Zoology

Easily the best thing you’ll hear all week: a beluga whale mimicking human speech

Holy warbling whales, this is GLORIOUS. For the first time ever, researchers have presented audio evidence of a cetacean (a beluga whale by the name of “NOC”) spontaneously mimicking human speech. The recording featured below is 100% real, and it is amazing. Recorded by scientists a few years ago, it was just released online earlier…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 22

Meet a daddy longlegs with a 13-inch legspan

Daddy longlegs don’t pose a threat to humans, but the following species from Laos may unnerve those readers with hair-trigger squeamishness. This arachnid — which is known as a harvestman — boasts a 33-centimeter legspan and was discovered in the Laotian province of Khammouan by Dr. Peter Jäger of Frankfurt’s Senckenberg Research Institute. It’s only…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 16

And now, an improbably cute photo of baby scorpions

[Photo removed] What’s not to love about this photo? In one fell swoop it inverts the reputation of a much-feared invertebrate. For the defenseless newborns sitting under the vicious sting are the scorpion’s own offspring, tended by their mother until they are big enough to survive on their own. It’s not just me who likes…

io9 Rowan Hooper - New Scientist Oct 16

The mystery of Florida’s monster eyeball has been solved

Last week, a softball-sized eyeball washed ashore in Florida. At the time, researcher Charles Messing guessed the eye belonged to a swordfish. A day later, Deep Sea News’ Craig McClain got in touch with Sönke Johnsen, “an expert on everything visual in marine organisms” (awesome, right?). Johnsen told McClain the fleshy orb was “definitely a…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 15

Conservationists announce the world’s 25 most-endangered primates

Today, at the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity, researchers with the International Union for Conservation of Nature unveiled a report detailing the world’s 25 most endangered primates — mankind’s most biologically similar living relatives. Top photo of Grauer’s gorilla by Dean Jacobs, via The report was compiled in cooperation with the International Primatological Society,…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 15

Do animals feel guilt?

When your dog looks at you with those big sad eyes, is he guilty or is he just aware that you’re angry with him? And can animals, on their own, develop a sense of guilt for what they do to other animals? We take a look at a few experiments that examine these questions. When…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Oct 14

Indisputable facts about the hedgehog, “mother nature’s cruelest predator”

For the weekend: what do the Big Bang, the enslavement of the human race and toilet paper rolls have in common? Hedgehogs. Yes, hedgehogs. Don’t ask, just watch; Ze Frank is about to hit you with some epic spiny, scrotum-y mammal knowledge. [Ze Frank via Laughing Squid]

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 12

An eye the size of a softball has washed ashore in Florida

Holy heck, people. Now that is an eyeball. Beach-walker Gino Covacci encountered the monstrosity yesterday while ambling about the Florida coast, and while scientists have yet to identify the creature from whence it came, the consensus seems to be that whatever it was, it was big. According to the Sun-Sentinal, the waters of Southern Florida…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 12

Mice can learn to sing together in harmony

Mice have just been added to a pretty selective group. Like humans and some birds, they can learn songs. At least, that’s according to a new article published in the journal PLoS ONE. Unfortunately, the scientists haven’t trained the mice use their ultrasonic songs to replicate the Queen of the Night aria or anything, but…

io9 Tim Barribeau Oct 11

This Chinese turtle urinates through its mouth

The Chinese soft-shelled turtle looks like someone glued the snout of a pig onto the face of a fish, with the texture of a scrotum for good measure. But its bizarre appearance pales in comparison to an even more bizarre, and newly discovered, habit: it urinates through its mouth. When the turtle breaks down proteins…

io9 Ed Yong - Not Exactly Rocket Science Oct 11

Sheep born with upside-down head does not want your sympathy

No, he only wants to dine upon this delicious pasture. Meet Terry the sheep. He lives in the United Kingdom and was born with his head screwed on backward. Despite his flip-flopped dome, Terry is in good health and goes about his sheep business as usual. It’s unclear what caused Terry’s condition, but one thing…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 3

Holy heck, this leopard just flying body-slammed its dinner

The animal kingdom is completely unforgiving. This footage of a leopard inadvertently getting Ultimate Warrior on an unsuspecting impala further reinforces this stark reality. The only scene that could match this is a gorilla with a basking shark in a headlock. They are natural nemeses, after all. RECENT: Octopus versus dogfish wrestling. https://gizmodo.com/watch-an-octopus-steal-food-and-beat-up-a-shark-at-the-5948167 [MiPix via…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 3

Watch an octopus steal food and beat up a shark AT THE SAME TIME

Octopuses are absolutely hilarious, what with their penchant for puzzle-solving and infinitely useful tentacles. Just check out this video by Lauren De Vos of the University of Cape Town’s Marine Research Institute — while filming a bait canister in Cape Town’s False Bay, a thieving octopus managed to undo the humans’ cable ties and wrangle…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 2

Migaloo, perhaps the world’s only white humpback whale, has been spotted off the coast of Australia!

Everyone, say hello to Migaloo. That’s what people call the white humpback whale pictured up top. When he was first spotted back in 1991, Migaloo (which is Aboriginal for “white fella”) was the first all-white humpback researchers had ever seen. (And according to his website, he remains the only documented white humpback whale in the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 28

This is what it’s like to be devoured alive by a sea star

This is totally fascinating. In this arresting timelapse video, produced by the folks over at Shape of Life, a sea star can be seen plunging its stomach inside the shell of a hapless mussel before digesting its prey alive. Accordng to the video, it’s the world’s first-person-view (first-mussel-view?) of a sea star devouring its prey.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 24

Naked mole rats’ indifference to acid might help relieve human pain

We’ve long touted the awesomeness of the cancer-free, ultra-long-lived, acid-resistant naked mole rats, and we even suggested that they’ll inherit the Earth from us. But while we’re still around, let’s see if we can’t benefit from these remarkable rodents. https://gizmodo.com/10-reasons-naked-mole-rats-will-inherit-the-earth-5889665 That’s the idea discussed in this informative video from the University of Illinois Chicago, where…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 23

Why is this bumblebee wearing a tiny radar suit?

How do you go about discovering the way that bumblebees find their paths? By strapping tiny radar transponders to them, and tracking them via motion-activated webcams, of course. A group of researchers from Queen Mary University of London did just that, setting up artificial flowers with webcams for the transponder laden bumblebees to visit, allowing…

io9 Tim Barribeau Sep 21

Good morning, here is your life-affirming video of a dolphin giving birth

Because our day can’t truly begin until we’ve seen a cetacean go buck-wild on the miracle of life, here is Keo the dolphin giving birth to a female calf last Monday with a minimum of viscera. As the folks at Dolphin Quest explain: It’s the first baby for proud dolphin mom, 12-year-old Keo. Dolphin Quest…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Sep 21

Valiant pig saves baby goat from drowning, wins the Internet’s heart

And the award for most adorable thing you’ll see today goes to this video of a pig saving a baby goat from drowning at a petting zoo. (NO THANKS TO YOU, MISTER CAMERAMAN.) Here’s your chance to watch it before your friends do. And then watch it again. And again. Something tells us this little…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 20

Why are some animals translucent? And how exactly does biological transparency work?

Transparency is an intriguing physical trait found throughout the animal kingdom, and in oceanic species, especially; as pointed out in this excellent overview of transparent animals by Scientific American’s Sönke Johnsen, “almost all open ocean animals not otherwise protected by teeth, toxins, speed or small size have some degree of invisibility.” While being partially or…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 18

Easily the best thing you’ll hear all week: a beluga whale mimicking human speech

Meet a daddy longlegs with a 13-inch legspan

And now, an improbably cute photo of baby scorpions

The mystery of Florida’s monster eyeball has been solved

Conservationists announce the world’s 25 most-endangered primates

Do animals feel guilt?

Indisputable facts about the hedgehog, “mother nature’s cruelest predator”

An eye the size of a softball has washed ashore in Florida

Mice can learn to sing together in harmony

This Chinese turtle urinates through its mouth

Sheep born with upside-down head does not want your sympathy

Holy heck, this leopard just flying body-slammed its dinner

Watch an octopus steal food and beat up a shark AT THE SAME TIME

Migaloo, perhaps the world’s only white humpback whale, has been spotted off the coast of Australia!

This is what it’s like to be devoured alive by a sea star

Naked mole rats’ indifference to acid might help relieve human pain

Why is this bumblebee wearing a tiny radar suit?

Good morning, here is your life-affirming video of a dolphin giving birth

Valiant pig saves baby goat from drowning, wins the Internet’s heart

Why are some animals translucent? And how exactly does biological transparency work?

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