Zoology

Snappy the crocodile is ready for halloween a month ahead of schedule

Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to Snappy. Snappy is an 8-foot-2-inch long crocodile; he lives at Roaming Reptiles animal park in Victoria, Australia; and — in case you hadn’t noticed — Snappy is very, very orange. In fact, Snappy is quite possibly the world’s first orange crocodile. Yes, we know, an orange alligator was…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 26

Say hello to one of the world’s most mysterious animals

This is one of the few photos ever taken of the giant armadillo, a five feet long behemoth that lives a nocturnal, solitary life in isolated wetlands of central Brazil. You can probably see why these things are so rare. Twice as big as your average armadillo, the giant species likes to live in the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 26

Scientists discover bisexual squid of the deep

Until today, little was known of the mating practices of deep sea squids. Most of them live more than 400 meters beneath the ocean’s surface, making it very difficult for humans to observe their behavior in the crushing darkness. But now, with the help of robot submersibles, researchers have discovered that the deep sea squid…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 21

To find the perfect home, bees must become dance critics

When bees leave their old hive, they send out hundreds of scouts to find possible locations for the new hive. This quest for prime bee real estate quickly devolves into another battle between art-forms: specifically, bee dancing vs. bee singing. As scouts find attractive sites for the new hive, they begin to perform what’s known…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 18

Mollusks evolved brains on four different occasions

As far as invertebrates go, you don’t get much smarter than the members of the mollusk phylum, which includes octopuses, cuttlefish, and squid. But mollusks apparently didn’t think through their evolutionary path very well, developing brains four times over. That’s the finding of researchers at Auburn University. Kevin Kocot and his team examined the genetic…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 18

The story of the woman who discovered new species in her garden

A nearly four-decade-long biology project conducted in a woman’s garden revealed four separate species of insects previously unknown to science. Seemingly, all you need to discover a new species is a bit of land, some traps, and a lot of patience. Jennifer Owen began digging through her garden in 1972 for new critters. It was…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 17

Are giant jellyfish evolving to take over the seas?

With fish numbers all over the world falling thanks to overfishing and habitat destruction, a surprising predator has sprung up to take their place — the jellyfish. Due to their low energy requirements, the floating blobs of stingers don’t need to be quite as active or accurate to spread and fill the ecological niche afforded…

io9 Tim Barribeau Sep 15

Migrating birds burn up muscles and organs on their long journey

Migrating thousands of miles every year requires insane amounts of energy. But that’s still nothing compared to the amount of water birds need to remain hydrated… and the drastic steps birds take to find all that water. Birds will stay in the air for days on end without stopping for food or water. To survive…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 12

Socializing can help you lose weight (if you’re a mouse)

Want to shed some pounds? It’s not that difficult if you can leave your limited environment for one where you’re challenged and interact with more people. At least with mice, changing habitat to one that’s more social and offers a wider variety of activities led to a remarkable physical transformation. Much of the rodents’ white…

io9 Tim Barribeau Sep 9

It turns out that dolphins don’t whistle

Despite everything you’ve heard, it turns out that dolphins don’t actually whistle. Dolphins produce a sound from their nose that they use to identify themselves to dolphins, which for years has been described as a whistle. But scientists discovered that the frequency of the sound never changed, even deep under water, where the sound of…

io9 Tim Barribeau Sep 8

The giant crab invasion of Antarctica has begun

In 2008, a team of researchers predicted that warming waters in the Southern Ocean would lead to the arrival of king crabs in Antarctic waters within 100 years. Now, just three years later, evidence suggests that the king crab invasion is already well underway. Videos shot from remotely operated submersibles (featured below) have revealed that…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 7

Real-life angry birds

Scientists have long believed the African Greater Honeyguide bird survived childhood by killing its siblings and getting more food from their parents. And now a group of scientists at University of Cambridge have proven this hypothesis by shooting video of one baby chick killing another right after they’ve broken free of their eggs. What kind…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 7

Why do fiddler crabs have such ridiculously large claws?

Male fiddler crabs have a single giant claw that looks like the evolutionary equivalent of going through a mid-life crisis and buying a super expensive sports car. The truth, it turns out, is only slightly less ridiculous than that. Fiddler crabs are one of the more spectacular violators of symmetry in nature, with their major…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 5

Australian frogs become “moisture farmers” to stay alive in droughts

Frogs in northern Australia have to find a way to survive months of cold, dry climate. Their solution? Hang around outside just long enough to trap condensation, which they use to hydrate themselves. By any standard, this is pretty ingenious. Green tree frogs live in the tropical savannas of northern Australia. For much of the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 4

The Tasmanian tiger’s fierce reputation was all a myth

Forensic science shows that the reputation of the ‘Tasmanian tiger’ was much inflated. The creatures used to roam through mainland Australia, but humans drove them to the island of Tasmnania. There, they gained a reputation as hunters of the sheep that were the livelihood of many local farmers. A bounty was put out on the…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Sep 2

Birds commit adultery so that they can have better children

Dark-eyed junco birds are one of many species that practices monogamy…to a point. While a male and female are pair-bonded – the junco equivalent of marriage – both partners will take on additional partners in the name of better genetics. Figuring out just why juncos so frequently break their pair-bonding has been tricky. Previous studies…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 1

Where did the giant mammals of the ice age come from?

The most recent ice age was dominated by gigantic mammals like the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and saber-tooth cat. But there’s an evolutionary mystery here. How did these animals enter the ice age already perfectly adapted for such brutally cold climates? The answer lies in the Himalayas rising above present-day Tibet. Paleontologists recently discovered the remains…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Sep 1

After 150 different insect stings, this entomologist became a connoisseur of pain

If you spend your life studying insects of the order hymenoptera, which includes wasps, bees and ants, you’re going to get stung a few times. Justin Schmidt, entomologist at the University of Arizona, never intentionally set out to get stung by as many different species as possible, but entomologist fieldwork involves bagging live nests for…

io9 Ed Grabianowski Aug 31

Why did ancient whales have twisted skulls?

Modern toothed whales have two major physical differences from their baleen brethren (apart from the whole teeth thing): they use echolocation, and they have asymmetrical skulls. It was thought that these toothy whales’ twisted bones evolved alongside echolocation, but new research indicates it may go back much further than that, to their 37 million-year-old predecessors.…

io9 Tim Barribeau Aug 26

10 Ways Animals Get High

Human beings aren’t the only creatures who use substances to escape from reality. Animals the world over drug themselves as eagerly and regularly as any college sophomore with a ‘Legalize It’ t-shirt. Find out how animals manage to get themselves ready for a Pink Floyd laser light show. 10. They go to the pharmaceutical industry.…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Aug 26

Snappy the crocodile is ready for halloween a month ahead of schedule

Say hello to one of the world’s most mysterious animals

Scientists discover bisexual squid of the deep

To find the perfect home, bees must become dance critics

Mollusks evolved brains on four different occasions

The story of the woman who discovered new species in her garden

Are giant jellyfish evolving to take over the seas?

Migrating birds burn up muscles and organs on their long journey

Socializing can help you lose weight (if you’re a mouse)

It turns out that dolphins don’t whistle

The giant crab invasion of Antarctica has begun

Real-life angry birds

Why do fiddler crabs have such ridiculously large claws?

Australian frogs become “moisture farmers” to stay alive in droughts

The Tasmanian tiger’s fierce reputation was all a myth

Birds commit adultery so that they can have better children

Where did the giant mammals of the ice age come from?

After 150 different insect stings, this entomologist became a connoisseur of pain

Why did ancient whales have twisted skulls?

10 Ways Animals Get High

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