Biology


Horses Fossil Species Horse North America Teeth
- Many people assume that horses first came to the Americas when Spanish explorers brought them here about 500 years ago. In fact, recent research has confirmed a European origin for horses associated with humans in the American Southwest and Great Plains. But those weren't the first horses in North America. The family Equidae, which includes domesticated varieties of horses and donkeys along with zebras and their kin, is actually native to the Americas. The fossil record reveals horse origins ... [Read More]


Triceratops Utrecht University Fossils Netherlands Animals T Rex
- A haul of 1,200 bones and bone fragments of at least 5 Triceratops horridus individuals has been dug up over the course of 10 years at a quarry in Wyoming, US. The palaeontologists were looking for Tyrannosaurus rex bones in 2013, but instead unearthed the largest group of Triceratops fossils ever found. Triceratops are often depicted as the arch nemesis of T. rex . Both species lived right at the end of the Cretaceous period (145–66 million years ago), becoming extinct when an asteroid ... [Read More]


Species Sand Monarch U N Environment Inger Andersen New York
- A staggering 22% of migratory animals are facing potential extinction, while some 44% are experiencing notable population decline, according to a "State of the World's Migratory Species" report released by the U.N. last month. "This is the first-ever comprehensive assessment of migratory species," Executive Director Inger Andersen of the U.N. Environment Programme said of the report, which FOX Weather reported at the time.  "And it shows how our behaviour – unsustainable human ... [Read More]

Source: foxnews.com

Dolphins River Dolphin Freshwater Species Palomino
- Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more . (CNN) — Picture a dolphin. Now imagine one that's twice the size of a person. Around 16 million years ago, a dolphin giant cruised the depths of its watery domain. But unlike most modern dolphins, its home wasn't an ocean; it lived in a freshwater lake in the Peruvian Amazon. And though there are Amazonian freshwater dolphin species alive today, ... [Read More]

Source: cnn.com

Killer Species Whales Pacific Coast Killer Whales Scientists
- A new study suggests that two killer whale populations in the North Pacific are distinct enough to be considered separate species. Killer whales are some of the most cosmopolitan creatures on the planet, swimming through every one of the world's oceans. They patrol the frigid waters near both poles and periodically pop up in the tropics, in locations from western Africa to Hawaii. Although their habitats and habits vary widely, all killer whales are considered part of a single, global species: ... [Read More]

Source: nytimes.com

Killer Species Transients Whales Residents Groups
- Two populations of killer whales off the Pacific Northwest coast have clear, major differences in culture: one group hunts down and kills large marine mammals in aggressive coordinated attacks, while the other are relatively docile salmon eaters. Scientists have long wondered whether these two are unique populations of one species ( Orcinus orca ) or represent subspecies or fully separate species . Now genetic data from a study published March 27 in Royal Society Open Science show these killer ... [Read More]


Megalonyx Jeffersonii Name Babcock History Ground Sloth
- When the skeletal remains of a giant ground sloth were first unearthed in 1796, the discovery marked one of the earliest paleontological finds in American history. When the skeletal remains of a giant ground sloth were first unearthed in 1796, the discovery marked one of the earliest paleontological finds in American history. Megalonyx by Thomas Jefferson in 1799, was the first genus of fossil named from the United States. Thought to have roamed North America during one of the last ice ages, ... [Read More]


Skull Lime Green K Gratus Kermit George Washington University Kermitops Gratus
- A recently-discovered amphibian ancestor has been named after Kermit the Frog, the ballad-crooning, pig-wooing lime green frog who headlines the Muppets. According to a new study in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Kermitops gratus was a proto-amphibian that lived 270 million years ago and possessed a skull that could fit in the palm of your hand. The fossilized bone is just over one inch long, containing well-preserved oval eye sockets. According to a press statement by ... [Read More]

Source: salon.com

Neanderthals Humans People Groups Gene Connections
- Why did humans take over the world while our closest relatives, the Neanderthals , became extinct? It's possible we were just smarter, but there's surprisingly little evidence that's true. Neanderthals had big brains , language and sophisticated tools . They made art and jewellery . They were smart, suggesting a curious possibility. Maybe the crucial differences weren't at the individual level, but in our societies. Two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, Europe and western Asia were ... [Read More]


Whale Whales Communication Humpback Whales Whale Communication Calls
- Whales are the oceans' own social butterflies. Their clicks, whistles, and haunting songs fill the deep. But imagine trying to follow a conversation in a room where everyone is talking at once, and you don't even speak the language. That's been the challenge for scientists studying whale communication. Now, thanks to ingenious research, we are finally getting a fascinating peek inside of whale communication Humpback whales Humpback whales , the acrobatic giants of the ocean, are essential to ... [Read More]

Source: earth.com

Diversity Species Forest Productivity Forests Data
- When scientists and policymakers make tough calls on which areas to prioritize for conservation, biodiversity is often their top consideration. Environments with more diversity support a greater number of species and provide more ecosystem services, making them the obvious choice. There's just one problem. There are several ways to measure diversity, and each reveals a slightly different, and sometimes conflicting, view of how life interacts in a forest or other ecosystem. In a study published ... [Read More]

Source: phys.org

Species Rouse Methane Pectinereis Strickrotti Sea Deep Sea
- The discovery of this creature increases the total count of new species identified by researchers exploring these seemingly inhospitable ecosystems to 48. Greg Rouse, a marine biologist at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography , and other researchers have identified a previously unknown species of deep-sea worm residing near a methane seep located approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) away from Costa Rica's Pacific coast. Rouse, curator of the Scripps Benthic Invertebrate ... [Read More]


Trees Forest Review Evidence Simard Tree
- The 'Mother Tree' idea is everywhere — but how much of it is real? It was a call from a reporter that first made ecologist Jason Hoeksema think things had gone too far. The journalist was asking questions about the wood wide web — the idea that trees communicate with each other through an underground fungal network — that seemed to go well beyond what Hoeksema considered to be the facts. Hoeksema discovered that his colleague, Melanie Jones, was becoming restive as well: her ... [Read More]

Source: nature.com

Species Ad Free Ad Members Experience Nautilus Members
- Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. . W hen he can spare the time, Jan Mees is an exorcist of scientific ghosts. A marine biologist, Mees's full-time job is directing the Flanders Marine Institute in Ostend, Belgium, but his side project is serving as co-leader of an international group of volunteer scientists. Together, they're working to build a World Register of Marine Species , a comprehensive database vetting the accuracy of scientific names for aquatic life. It was a daunting ... [Read More]

Source: nautil.us

Species Rays Julia T Uuml Rtscher Study Patrick L Jambura Ray
- In a new study recently published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology, an international team of scientists led by palaeobiologist Julia Türtscher from the University of Vienna has explored the puzzling world of rays that lived 150 million years ago and discovered a previously hidden diversity – including a new ray species . This study significantly expands the understanding of these ancient cartilaginous fish and provides further insights into a past marine ecosystem. In her new ... [Read More]


Moths Areas Study Heat Insects Alachua County
- The alarming rate at which insects are disappearing from our environment, especially urban areas, has become a critical concern. This catastrophic phenomenon is unfolding so swiftly it outpaces scientific study. This urgency is underscored by the complexity of insect life cycles , including stages such as eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults, raising questions about whether all stages are declining at the same pace. Until recently, a comprehensive investigation into this matter was scarce. Studying ... [Read More]

Source: earth.com