Ecology & Zoology

Some males give back too - even when it comes to sex. Male worms plug females after copulation as a form of 'gift', a nice gesture, rather than to prevent them from mating again, as most had…

Last night I had a fabulous evening with the Friends of the Elephant Seals, a remarkable collection of intelligent, informed, interested folks. And as often occurs, I learned at least as much…

Despite my recent obsession with cetaceans, it's important to remember they're not the only cephalopod predators out there. Pretty much anything that can catch a squid will happily chow down on it,…

Dracula orchids tempt flies by masquerading as mushrooms. Goblin spiders lurk unseen in the world's leaf litter. The natural world is often just as haunting as the macabre costumes worn on city…

So I've been reading a bunch about whales and dolphins eating squid. Tomorrow there will be an exciting post about whether sperm whales really do stun giant squid with sonic blasts, but for now, here…

In 1983, two scientists, one from California and one from Denmark, co-authored a research paper titled "Can odontocetes debilitate prey with sound?" Odontocete is a fancy term for toothed whales (the…

And thus passes one of the more charismatic cephalopods of our times . . . The mollusc, named Paul, 'predicted' the outcome of all Germany's matches in South Africa, and Spain's win in the final, by…

For once! Check it out: the colossal squid gets pride of place as the first entry in the Daily Mail's "Monster mutant animals" photo gallery. This species is believed to be the largest in the squid…

Papua New Guinea is a treasure trove of new species - 24 new species of frogs, 2 new mammals, and nearly a hundred new insects, just from expeditions to PNG's Nakanai and Muller mountain ranges. I…

The Museum of UnNatural History has a page about the Kraken, of course, a pleasant romp through the history of the mythological creature, but unfortunately it does its part to perpetrate a…