Animals
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AnimalsScientists Say: Medullary bone
Medullary bone is a layer that forms inside bird and dinosaur bones. It’s a source of the calcium in eggshells.
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AnimalsAround the world, birds are in crisis
Human activities around the world are threatening bird species. Numbers of even some of the most common species are starting to fall.
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AnimalsOgre-faced spiders listen closely to snatch bugs from the air
Ogre-faced spiders can hear prey sneaking around behind them. Low frequencies can trigger a blind, backwards attack.
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AnimalsScientists Say: Apoptosis
When it’s time for cells to die, they need to do it carefully, so they don’t harm other cells.
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AnimalsPlease do not touch the Australian stinging tree
Stinging-tree leaves look soft and inviting, but one touch delivers agony. Structurally, the plant's painful chemical looks a lot like spider venom.
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AnimalsThe diabolical ironclad beetle is nearly unsquishable
The diabolical ironclad beetle is an incredibly tough little creature. A peek inside its exoskeleton reveals what makes it virtually uncrushable.
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AnimalsThis snake rips open a living toad to feast on its organs
A particularly gruesome way to kill may help small-banded kukri snakes avoid a deadly poison secreted from the neck and backs of some toads.
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AnimalsScientists Say: Evolution
Evolution is how species change over time. Individuals in the group vary, and some will pass on their genes. Over time, the whole species changes.
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AnimalsAnalyze This: Ropes restore a gibbon highway through a rainforest
When endangered Hainan gibbons started making risky leaps across an area mowed down by a landslide, researchers provided them a rope bridge.
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AnimalsAttack of the inner-cannibal mega-shark
The outsized megalodon was a fierce terror that chewed its way across the oceans. It learned to kill even before it was born.
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AnimalsJumping ‘snake worms’ are invading U.S. forests
These bad-news invaders are spreading across the United States. As they turn forest debris into bare ground, soils and ecosystems are changing.
By Megan Sever -
AnimalsWhen physicians and veterinarians team up, all species benefit
When doctors for people and those for animals share their expertise, they can discover new ways to take better medical care of all species.
By Liz Devitt