Animal Life news stories

1,000-year-old oaks used to create ‘super forest’
26th March 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

“They’ve lived for so long; just think what they’ve seen.” Forester Nick Baimbridge is gazing fondly at a majestic oak that has stood for more than a thousand years. On this wintry afternoon, birds sing from lichen-covered branches and a deer runs through the undergrowth.

Orangutans use slang to ‘show off their coolness’, study suggests
22nd March 2022 | theguardian.com | Animal Life

Primates come up with new ‘kiss-squeak’ alarm calls that spread quickly through communities, research says.

Sulfur from dino-killing asteroid caused way more global cooling than thought
22nd March 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

When the dinosaur-destroying asteroid collided with Earth 66 million years ago, massive amounts of sulfur — volumes more than were previously thought — were thrown high above land into the stratosphere, a new study finds.

Lunar Eclipses Have a Peculiar Effect on Migrating Swifts – But So Does The Full Moon
20th March 2022 | sciencealert.com | Animal Life, Earth

As the full Moon rises, so too does the Northern black swift (Cypseloides niger borealis). When this little bird migrates from the Rocky Mountains to the Amazon rainforest, researchers have found it uses moonlight to regain its energy.

Octopuses were around before dinosaurs, fossil find suggests
11th March 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Animal Life

Scientists have found the oldest known ancestor of octopuses – an approximately 330m-year-old fossil unearthed in Montana. The researchers concluded the ancient creature lived millions of years earlier than previously believed, meaning that octopuses originated before the era of dinosaurs.

Traces of Ancient Life Discovered Deep in Earth’s Mantle
10th March 2022 | newsweek.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Scientists discovered traces of carbon—the element on which life on Earth is based—that appear to have come from the Cambrian Explosion.

The human brain would rather look at nature than city streets
10th March 2022 phys.org | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

There is a scientific reason that humans feel better walking through the woods than strolling down a city street, according to a new publication from UO physicist Richard Taylor and an interdisciplinary team of collaborators.

Spiders Use Electric Fields to Fly, And We May Finally Know How
10th March 2022 | sciencealert.com | Animal Life

Having never evolved wings, many species of spider instead evolved an uncanny ability to take to the skies using nothing more than a few short threads of gossamer dangling from their dainty butts.

Amazon rainforest reaching tipping point, researchers say
10th March 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

A study suggests the world’s largest rainforest is losing its ability to bounce back from damage caused by droughts, fires and deforestation.

Predators Have Evolved to Not Overexploit Their Resources. Can Humans Do The Same?
8th March 2022 | sciencealert.com | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

People have been trying to understand how predators and prey are able to stay balanced within our planet’s ecosystems for at least 2,400 years. The Greek author Herodotus even raised the question in his historical treatise Histories, written around 430 BC.

Tyrannosaurus rex may have been three species, scientists say
2nd March 2022 | Ancient, Animal Life

With its immense size, dagger-like teeth and sharp claws, Tyrannosaurus rex was a fearsome predator that once terrorised North America. Now researchers studying its fossils have suggested the beast may not have been the only tyrannosaurus species

Remains of ‘world’s largest Jurassic pterosaur’ recovered in Scotland
23rd February 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

It might be best known today for its otters and puffins but 170m years ago the Isle of Skye was home to an enormous flying reptile with a wingspan bigger than a kingsize bed, researchers have revealed.

A Mysterious Desert Bacterium Has Evolved Its Own, Unique Ability to Photosynthesize
21st February 2022 | sciencealert.com | Animal Life, Earth

Photosynthesis quite literally changed our world. Plants ‘eating’ sunlight and ‘breathing out’ oxygen transformed Earth’s entire atmosphere into the one we now breathe, and fuel our ecosystems with energy.

Life could exist on planet orbiting ‘white dwarf’ star
11th February 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Animal Life, Humans, Space

Researchers believe there may be a planet that could sustain life, in the vicinity of a dying sun.

 

The deep seafloor is filled with entire branches of life yet to be discovered
7th February 2022 | livescience.com | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

The deep-ocean floor is teeming with undiscovered life-forms that help to regulate Earth’s climate, a new study finds.

Woolly mammoth and other Ice Age remains found in Devon
3rd February 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Animal Life, Humans

The remains of a woolly mammoth have been found among a host of hugely significant Ice Age animal remains in a cave in Devon, experts have said.

News stories covering Animal Science, bacterial life, DNA.