Animal Life news stories

Insects Can Produce As Much Atmospheric Electric Charge as a Thunderstorm Cloud
27th October 2022 scitechdaily.com | Animal Life, Earth

Researchers measured the electrical fields near swarming honeybees and discovered that insects can produce as much atmospheric electric charge as a thunderstorm cloud.

Asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs triggered global mega-tsunami
26th October 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Space

It is no surprise that a 14km-wide asteroid slamming into the Gulf of Mexico would generate one hell of a tsunami, but this is the first time anyone has worked out how big and how far-reaching it would have been.

Proposal to grant the ocean rights calls for a sea change in legal framework
18th October 2022 news.mongabay.com | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

The idea is simple but ambitious: protect the ocean by giving it the same kind of rights a person might have. No such legal mechanism is currently in place, but support for this concept is growing as experts increasingly recognize that the ocean is in dire need of defense.

How fluctuating oxygen levels may have accelerated animal evolution
17th October 2022 | eurekalert.org | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Oxygen levels in the Earth’s atmosphere are likely to have “fluctuated wildly” one billion years ago, creating conditions that could have accelerated the development of early animal life, according to new research.

Why technologically advanced aliens would have to be social creatures
17th October 2022 bigthink.com | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

Humans are creatures of paradox. Sometimes we overflow with compassion and empathy, while at other times, we are violent and cruel. We preserve nature by creating natural parks and wilderness areas, then ravage the same natural resources without any thought of how to sustain them.

After the ‘Great Dying,’ life on Earth took millions of years to recover. Now, scientists know why.
13th October 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

At the end of the Permian period 252 million years ago, Earth was devastated by a mass extinction that exterminated more than 90% of species on the planet. Compared with other mass extinctions, recovery from the “Great Dying” was slow: It took at least 10 million years for the planet to be repopulated and restore its diversity.

Discovered in the deep: the ‘forest of the weird’
12th October 2022 | theguardian.com | Animal Life, Earth, Weird

More than a mile beneath the Pacific Ocean, is a seascape of oddly shaped corals and a glass sponge named after ET.

Tiny reptile unearthed in Scotland was ‘closely related to pterosaurs’
7th October 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

After more than a century of debate, researchers have settled the mystery of a tiny, enigmatic reptile that left an impression on Scottish sandstone nearly a quarter of a billion years ago.

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Produced Global Tsunamis Up to 2.8 Miles High
5th October 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

The dinosaur-killing asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago also triggered a jumbo-size tsunami with mile-high waves in the Gulf of Mexico whose waters traveled halfway around the world, a new study finds.

‘Humble’ worm saliva can break down tough plastic
5th October 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

One of the worst forms of plastic pollution may have met its match in the saliva of a humble worm. Spanish researchers say they’ve discovered chemicals in the wax worm’s drool that break down polyethylene, a tough and durable material.

Narwhals Are So Weird, Scientists Used Chaos Theory to Explain Their Behavior
2nd October 2022 | sciencealert.com | Animal Life, Weird

Narwhals are enigmatic marine mammals, fascinating us with their unique appearance and secretive lifestyles under the Arctic sea ice.

Rewriting the history of feathered dinosaurs
30th September 2022 cosmosmagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life

Since 1996, nearly 50 new feathered dinosaur species have emerged from the fossil fields of China. Paleontologists thought they had a good idea of the diversity of these fluffy carnivores. But a recent finding left them scratching their heads.

Ruff day? Dogs can detect if people are stressed, research finds
30th September 2022 | theguardian.com | Animal Life, Humans

Whether it’s a tricky maths problem or an unexpected bill, daily life is full of stressful experiences. Now researchers have found that humans produce a different odour when under pressure – and dogs can sniff it out.

Amazing New Fossils Provide Earliest Known Traces of The Evolution of Our Jaws And Limbs
30th September 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Road excavations in China’s Guizhou Province have unearthed a trove of ancient fish fossils. As a part of rock layers known as the Rongxi Formation, the newfossil bed is filled with never-before-seen species that push back the dates of our first jawed animal ancestors by about 15 million years.

Study finds famous Australian caves are up to 500,000 years older than we thought – and it could help explain a megafauna mystery
27th September 2022 theconversation.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

South Australia’s Naracoorte Caves is one of the world’s best fossil sites, containing a record spanning more than half a million years. Among the remains preserved in layers of sand are the bones of many iconic Australian megafauna species that became extinct between 48,000 and 37,000 years ago.

Misinformation can occur with everything… just ask spiders
16th September 2022 cosmosmagazine.com | Animal Life, Humans

Our eight-legged friends can teach us something important about ourselves.

News stories covering Animal Science, bacterial life, DNA.