Ecology & Zoology

Phallus Drewesii: Phallus Shaped Mushroom Naming Is 'Wonderful Honor'

It's two inches long, is shaped like a phallus and is commonly associated with wood.   A middle school joke?  No, it's a new species of stinkhorn mushroom discovered on the African island of Sao Tome and named after Robert Drewes, Curator of Herp ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 15 2009 - 1:55pm

Stickleback Fish Has Human Ability To 'Learn'- Study

Humans aren't all that close to each other in a modern sense but in one way we may be a little closer than previously realized: the way fish learn could be closer to humans, suggests a new research study. A common species of fish which is found across ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 16 2009 - 3:08pm

'Evolutionary Phenomenon' Discovered In Russia's Caucasus Mountains

A completely new species has been discovered in the Russian mountains! Sorry, it's not Bigfoot or Yeti or Abominable Snowman or Bumble or whatever he is called where you are from, though "Bigfoot Found!" on the cover with a big "No" ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 15 2009 - 10:23pm

More Than Just 'Bromance'- Same Sex Animal Behavior Pretty Common, Says Study

Same-sex behavior has been extensively documented in the non-human animal kingdom, concludes a new review of existing research. Yep, homosexual behavior is common across species, from worms to frogs to birds- but there's a catch.   Same-sex 'beh ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 1 2009 - 5:52pm

The Embrace of the Lion

Ok, this is an old story and probably all of you have seen the footage already- but after seeing the video myself, I cannot avoid posting it in my blog too. The recorded ending of a moving story of love between a lion and two young men is still all the rag ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Jun 17 2009 - 5:15pm

The Mystery Of Giant Sperm- Sometimes Size Really Does Matter

Renate Matzke-Karasz from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich  has led an international team of scientists who are studying sperm specimens from the London Natural History Museum’s collections. Their research has revealed fossilized evidence for reproduc ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 18 2009 - 12:51pm

Forget Hypnosis- This Tentacled Snake Startles Prey Right Into Its Mouth

You've heard legends of snakes that hypnote their prey- Kaa in "The Jungle Book" did it and Disney is renowned for their scientific accuracy- but a tentacled snake from South East Asia has gone hypnosis one better; it startles its prey so th ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 18 2009 - 4:35pm

Ecological Niche Modeling And Finding Sasquatch's Range Distribution

Ecological Niche Modeling is a great tool for conservation biology, phylogeography and evolutionary biology. However, as Jeff Lozier and colleagues point out in a paper in the Journal of Biogeography that the models are only as good as the data they are ba ...

Article - John Dennehy - Jul 3 2009 - 10:56am

In Bird Parenting, One Parent Will Make Up For A Lazy Partner, But Not Too Much

Why do some species  have parents working together to raise young?  In humans, it is the norm but in nature it is rare. Birds, like humans, have offspring raised by two parents and bird biologists at the University of Bath want to know more about why.  The ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 6 2009 - 12:29pm

Rhinolophus Paradoxolophus: Bat's Super Sonar Nose Explained

The mystery of a rare bat's unusually large nose has been solved, according to an article in Physical Review Letters. The adult Bourret's horseshoe bat, known scientifically as the Rhinolophus paradoxolophus meaning paradoxical crest, has a nose ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 7 2009 - 10:30am