Ecology

Animals

Humpback whales catch fish using bubbles and flippers

Scientist for the first time have captured details of humpback whales’ hunting tactics on camera.

Animals

Congolese toads may avoid predators by copycatting deadly vipers

If Congolese giant toads are mimicking venomous Gaboon vipers, this would be the first reported case of a frog imitating a snake.

Animals

Standing out helps barn owls on the hunt

White barn owls are more successful hunters than red ones — at least when the moon is full.

Life

Meat-eating pitcher plants feast on baby salamanders

Scientists didn’t think meat-eating plants in North America ate vertebrates. They now know differently.

Animals

A million species could vanish, and people are to blame

Human activities are putting a million plant and animal species at risk of extinction, a new study finds. But it’s not too late to save many of them, scientists add.

Animals

Tiger sharks feast when migratory birds fall out of the sky

Migrating land-based birds that fall from the sky as they cross the Gulf of Mexico can end up in the belly of a young tiger shark.

Animals

When parenting goes cuckoo

Brood parasites are animals that trick another species into raising their young. This is known among birds, fish and insects.

Animals

Spiders’ weird meals show how topsy-turvy Amazon food webs can be

Rare sightings of invertebrates eating small vertebrates upend some assumptions about who eats who in the Amazon rainforest’s complex ecosystem.

Animals

Is ocean acidification knocking the scents out of salmon?

In more acidic water, salmon don’t seem to recognize the smell of danger. Will their populations take a nosedive as carbon-dioxide levels rise?

Animals

A Bolivian frog species returns from the dead

A Bolivian frog was missing in the wild for 10 years. Scientists feared chytrid fungus had driven the frog extinct. Then they found 5 survivors.

Animals

To monitor penguin diet from satellites, look to poop

Scientists have figured out what foods dominate an Adélie penguin colony’s diet by looking at Landsat imagery. But to do so, they had to start with penguin poop.

Life

Amoebas are crafty, shape-shifting engineers

It’s easy to overlook amoebas — but we shouldn’t. These one-celled wonders can build their own shells, punch holes in prey and even farm bacteria.