Aussie animals glow in the dark, according to reports in ABC News 26 November 2020 and 8 December 2020, and Mammalia 15 October 2020, doi: 10.1515/mammalia-2020-0027. Scientists at Northland College, USA, were investigating biofluorescence – a phenomenon seen when fur, feathers or skin absorb ultra-violet (UV) light and re-emit visible light. If UV light is […]
Polar bears benefit from arctic warming, according reports in ScienceDaily 23 September 2020 and Global Change Biology, 23 September 2020, doi: 10.1111/gcb.15286. An international team of scientists have studied a population of polar bears living in Kane Basin a region in the high Arctic between Ellesmere Island, Canada and Greenland. They compared the bears’ overall […]
Possum pollination found, as described in Science (AAAS) News and ScienceDaily 12 February 2020, In Defense of Plants 16 February 2020, and Ecology, 11 February 2020; doi: 10.1002/ecy.3001. Scientists in South America have studied an obscure plant named Scybalium fungiforme, that lives most of its life underground as root parasite, but does produce flowers that […]
Koalas climb like apes, according to Inside JEB 17 December 2019 and Journal of Experimental Biology 17 December 2019 doi: 10.1242/jeb.207506. The typical picture of a koala is one of a semi-comatose animal sitting passively in the fork of a tree. This is understandable as koalas sleep for up to 18 hours a day. However, […]
Unique mole walking is all thumbs, according to articles in Science (AAAS) News 29 October 2019 and Biology Letters 30 October 2019, doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0503. Most four-legged land mammals walk with their limbs under their body, swinging their front legs back and forth below their shoulder joint. A group of scientists have analysed high speed videos […]
Baby bats prepared for landing according to articles in Inside JEB 16 October 2019 and Journal of Experimental Biology 15 October 2019 doi:10.1242/jeb.209163. Echolocating bats use their sonar to help them land, as well as to navigate when our foraging for food. When bats are coming in to land they emit a rapid burst of […]
“Ancient four-legged whale” found, claim ScienceDaily 4 April 2019, BBC News 5 April 2019, about a fossil described in Current Biology 4 April 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.050. An international team of palaeontologists from Peru, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium who were exploring in Peru have found a jaw bone, forelimb and hind limb bones, the […]
Giant African carnivore fossil found, according to reports in National Geographic, Science (AAAS) News, ScienceDaily 18 April 2019 and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, published online 17 April 2019, doi: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1570222. Palaeontologists in Kenya were looking through drawers in a Nairobi Museum and found the jaw and some pieces of skull, bones and teeth of an […]
Marsupials among the dinosaurs, according to reports in ScienceDaily 19 February 2019, and Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, published online 14 February 2019, doi: 10.1080/14772019.2018.1560369. Researchers from the University of Colorado and University of Alaska Fairbanks have found over 60 fossils of the world’s northernmost marsupial. The marsupial has been named Unnuakomys hutchisoni. The fossils are […]
Dingo species dispute reported in ABC News 7 March 2019 and Zootaxa 5 March 2019, doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4564.1.6. A group of researchers has carried out an extensive study of the Australian wild dog, known as the dingo, and claim it should be classified as a separate species of dog with the name Canis dingo, rather than […]