Zoology

Spiders have to keep their extra brains in their legs

Spiders aren’t generally thought of as particularly smart creatures, but some spiders’ brains are literally too big for their heads. It seems that no matter how big or small a spider’s body is, its brain is always the same size. No matter their size, all spider species have to perform the same basic set of…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 12

Ostriches and their bloodless erections solve a centuries-old mystery

Sometimes, scientists ask deep, probing questions that cut to the very core of the universe’s greatest mysteries. And sometimes, they wonder about how ostriches’ and emus’ penises work. And sometimes, that apparently prurient research can lead to new insights into how birds and reptiles evolved apart. There are two major types of bird sex. The…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 12

10 Intrepid Animal Astronauts

Looking back on all of humanity’s successes in space, it can be easy to forget that many of our accomplishments have been built on the sacrifices of other creatures. Here are ten animals who played an indispensable role in paving the inter-planetary way to space. Top image: French cats in spacesuits. 10. Fruit flies If…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 12

Songbirds caught evolving into separate species

If you just look at their DNA, the various South American songbird populations all look pretty much the same. But their outward appearances and the songs they sing couldn’t be more difficult. We’re witnessing the birth of multiple new species. We’ve known since Charles Darwin that species can change and evolve into new species, and…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 11

Bee swarms behave just like neurons in the human brain

When it comes time for honeybee swarm to split off from their mother colony and find a new place to live, something remarkable happens. To communicate most effectively, they organize themselves exactly like the neurons of a complex brain. Sometimes, a honeybee colony grows too large, and so a swarm breaks off in order to…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 8

Rats will aid their fellow rodents in times of stress

Is altruism something that’s unique to primates? Neuroscientists Peggy Mason and Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal decided to find out, using rats. What they discovered is these rodents will help each other escape from locked cages. They will even share their favorite food with rats. According to Scientific American: Mason and Bartal placed pairs of rats in…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 8

Kung fu Gecko will kick your ass first, ask questions later

Ah, geckos. So cute. So harmless. So unassuming. Or maybe that’s just what they want us to think. This photo is from a series by Indonesian photographer Shikhei Goh that features geckos doing what I can only assume they get up to when we humans aren’t huddled around their tanks, pleading with them to come…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 7

This leopard is so happy to be alive it can barely stand it

The photo you’re looking at is of a Persian leopard — the largest subspecies of leopard on Earth — and it is just elated to be here. Where is here, exactly? That would be Afghanistan’s Central Highlands, where this photo was taken. Until recently, Persian leopards were believed to have vanished from this rocky region…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 6

Naked mole rats have the worst sperm in the animal kingdom

Often called “sabre tooth sausages,” naked mole rats are among the most bizarre members of the rodent realm. They live for 20 years — an enormous amount of time compared to other rodents — and exist entirely within a network of underground tunnels. They are blind, feel no pain on the surface of their skins,…

io9 Annalee Newitz Dec 5

The race is on to save the Ozark Hellbender, the world’s most awesomely-named animal

There are animals with badass names, and then there’s the Ozark Hellbender. This salamander-like creature might sound like a reject from a particularly gritty and/or rural episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it’s actually a critically endangered species. The St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri Department of Conservation have worked for over a decade…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 5

Chivalry is not dead…among fig wasps

Admittedly, there’s not much competition, but I’m declaring fig wasps to be the most gallant of all wasps. Males are the only known insects to put pregnant females ahead of themselves…even if they haven’t had a chance to mate yet. Fig wasps are a tiny variety of wasps that pollinate, unsurprisingly, fig trees. They come…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 4

Moving to the city could split birds into separate species

It’s a well-worn cliche that moving to the big city after a lifetime of country-living can change you forever. That might actually be literally true for blackbirds, as moving to the city has begun to split their species in two. Blackbirds are found throughout northern Europe, and they began moving into cities in the 1930s.…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Dec 4

The world’s smelliest frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotics

Some of the most foul smelling creatures on Earth are known simply as odorous frogs. These amphibians have a normal odor like that of rotting fish, but it’s worth braving their disgusting smell for the life-saving substances that coat their bodies. Because frogs live in warm, wet places — the perfect breeding grounds for bacteria…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 30

Help scientists decode the mysteries of whale songs

Have you ever listened to the complex sounds of a whale song and wished you could understand what’s being said? Well here’s your chance to help scientists make sense of these enigmatic underwater calls. Scientific American has teamed up with the Citizen Science Alliance (CSA) to bring us The Whale Song Project. Also known as…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 29

Male guppies have kept the same color for half a million years just to keep females happy

Guppies have been a separate species for 500,000 years, and during that time their color has changed drastically. But one thing has stayed the same: an orange patch on males. This is quite possibly the most romantic adaptation ever. That’s because females seem to like the orange patch, and male guppies have evolved and re-evolved…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 28

Tropical bird is sort of like a werewolf…only for sex

Animals that magically transform under the full moon is purely the stuff of myths and legends, but the full moon does make some animals dramatically change their behavior. For the Barau’s petrel, that’s when they suddenly become romantic. This tropical bird is one of a few species that effectively reserves all its sexual impulses for…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 27

What lurks in the DNA of the mysterious Monarch butterfly?

For the first time ever, scientists have sequenced the genome of a creature who migrates long distances: the Monarch butterfly. The Monarch Genome Project hopes to provide insight into the butterflies’ mysterious migratory pattern, which involves travel over great distances for several generations. How do these creatures return to the territory where their great-grandparents were…

io9 Tim Barribeau Nov 24

Spiders dose their webs with poison to keep invading ants at bay

Looks like ants aren’t the only insects that actively engage in chemical warfare. An international team of researchers has shown for the first time that golden orb web spiders imbue their web-silk with a potent ingredient that keeps invading ants off their turf. https://gizmodo.com/how-a-small-group-of-california-ants-are-challenging-th-5809680 “We found that large golden orb web spiders add a defensive…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Nov 23

One fifth of all mammals are bats. Here’s why.

Bats are everywhere, and they eat everything from fruit to blood. What keeps these small, furry fliers winning the natural selection game? A group of researchers tried to answer this question by studying the evolution of a particularly diverse group of bats. They discovered that the success of bats is all about body modification. Photo…

io9 Annalee Newitz Nov 23

Four separate species of rats evolved to mooch off humans

Rat are notorious pests, with populations throughout the world living off the scraps and garbage left behind by humans. Rats, it seems, are just born to mooch off humans, since they’ve gone down this same evolutionary path four different times. Smithsonian Institution researcher Ken Aplin, along with an international team of collaborators, recently undertook the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Nov 21

Spiders have to keep their extra brains in their legs

Ostriches and their bloodless erections solve a centuries-old mystery

10 Intrepid Animal Astronauts

Songbirds caught evolving into separate species

Bee swarms behave just like neurons in the human brain

Rats will aid their fellow rodents in times of stress

Kung fu Gecko will kick your ass first, ask questions later

This leopard is so happy to be alive it can barely stand it

Naked mole rats have the worst sperm in the animal kingdom

The race is on to save the Ozark Hellbender, the world’s most awesomely-named animal

Chivalry is not dead…among fig wasps

Moving to the city could split birds into separate species

The world’s smelliest frogs are a treasure trove of antibiotics

Help scientists decode the mysteries of whale songs

Male guppies have kept the same color for half a million years just to keep females happy

Tropical bird is sort of like a werewolf…only for sex

What lurks in the DNA of the mysterious Monarch butterfly?

Spiders dose their webs with poison to keep invading ants at bay

One fifth of all mammals are bats. Here’s why.

Four separate species of rats evolved to mooch off humans

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