Ecology & Zoology

For A Better Coffee Harvest, Keep Some Biodiversity

A lot of coffee is grown on and around Kilimanjaro, which towers almost 20,000 feet in the air.  The most traditional form of cultivation can be found in the gardens of the Chagga people. In some areas, coffee trees and other crop plants still grow in the ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 8 2014 - 5:30am

Protoazin Parisiensis: Did South American Hoatzins Originate In Europe?

Only one species of hoatzins exists in South America today- or anywhere else.  Opisthocomus hoazin, also known as the Stinkbird or Canje Pheasant, has an unclear evolutionary history but was assumed to have originated in South America. Not so, it seems. Th ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 9 2014 - 6:30am

Crocodiles Climb Trees

When you think of crocodiles, you usually envision them climbing trees. Probably not. Most people imagine them in water or waddling on the ground, but a study has found that the reptiles can climb trees as far as the crowns.  Vladimir Dinets, a research a ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 1 2014 - 8:00am

Repurposing: Urban Bees Use Plastic To Build Hives

We may have too much plastic in the environment but creatures that lack a Mother Jones to tell them how awful things are adapt and overcome; two urban bee species have been caught making nests out of plastic waste. Although lots of research has shown adve ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 11 2014 - 4:37pm

Happy Darwin Day: Beetle He Found 182 Years Ago Named In His Honor

In 1832, the HMS Beagle arrived at Bahia Blanca, Argentina and Charles Darwin disembarked. On his way to Buenos Aires, Darwin collected several fossils of large mammals along with many other living organisms, including several insects. February 12 is Darw ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 12 2014 - 10:15am

Female Asian Longhorned Beetles Pheromone May Be Key To Pest Management

Asian longhorned beetles are an invasive pest that affects about 25 tree species in the United States.  Female Asian longhorned beetles lure males to their locations by laying down sex-specific pheromone trails on tree surfaces, according to an internatio ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 13 2014 - 2:07pm

Guam Manta Moon Parties Busted

Julie Hartup, Mariana Islands Program Leader for the Manta Trust, has caught mantas on Guam in the act of having a party. Several of Hartup's paddler and free diving friends told her about seeing mantas congregating in an area where surgeonfish were ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 18 2014 - 10:52am

Protect The Queen! Noah's Ants Build Raft To Escape Flood

Call it the buoyancy of the brood. When facing a flood, ants build rafts and find other ways to minimize injury or death- they can basically use the brood to act as a life preserver- according to a new paper. The queen ant goes in the middle and is protec ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 19 2014 - 7:07pm

Black-Tailed Antechinus: Fatal Attraction Is Not Just Dangerous For Bunny Rabbits

A highly sexed mouse-like marsupial from Queensland's Springbrook National Park, the Black-tailed Antechinus, has been identified as a new species. It's the third new species in the genus Antechinus Dr. Andrew Baker's research team has disc ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 21 2014 - 1:09pm

Fruit-Eaters Score Higher On Spatial Memory Tests

Can diet give you a better memory? It seems to, at least when it comes to an animal cognition test using lemurs. A study of five lemur species found that fruit-eatershad better spatial memory than lemurs with a more varied diet. The researchers conclude t ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 23 2014 - 10:19am