Animal Life news stories

Did Eating Meat Really Make Us Human?
28th January 2022 | wired.co.uk | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

For decades, scientists thought that being more carnivorous set our ancestors along their evolutionary path. New evidence casts doubt on this theory.

Image from Venison Steaks (Wiki Commons)

Are humans on the verge of ‘peace talks’ with the non-human world?
28th January 2022 | theguardian.com | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

For about 2,000 years most humans have imagined themselves to be the Earth’s “apex predators” – smarter, faster and more deadly than any other creature with which we share the planet.

Ancient DNA suggests woolly mammoths roamed the Earth more recently than previously thought
24th January 2022 theconversation.com | Ancient, Animal Life

In 2010, small cores of permafrost sediments were collected by a team at the University of Alberta from gold mines in the Klondike region of central Yukon.

Study Finds Protein Structures That Could Be Responsible For The Origins of Life
19th January 2022 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

The question of how life first sparked into existence on our planet is one we haven’t yet fully answered, but science is getting closer all the time – and a new study identifies the structures of the proteins that may well have made it happen

1st bioengineered hybrid animals discovered — in ancient Mesopotamia
17th January 2022 | livescience.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Humans

Mesopotamians were using hybrids of domesticated donkeys and wild asses to pull their war wagons 4,500 years ago — at least 500 years before horses were bred for the purpose, a new study reveals

Million-Year-Old DNA Yields Mammoth Surprises
17th January 2022 | discovermagazine.com | Ancient, Animal Life

A decades-old Siberian tooth sample has revealed a previously unknown mammoth lineage, along with a potential ancestor’s unexpected adaptations.

Clovis hunters’ reputation as mammoth killers takes a hit
11th January 2022 | sciencenews.org | Ancient, Animal Life, Humans

Tests of stone points show that early Americans may have been better scavengers than hunters of the giant beasts.

Research on magnetite in salmon noses illuminates understanding of sensory mechanisms enabling magnetic perception
11th January 2022 phys.org | Animal Life, Earth, Humans

It’s widely understood that animals such as salmon, butterflies and birds have an innate magnetic sense, allowing them to use the Earth’s magnetic field for navigation to places such as feeding and breeding grounds.

Medieval warhorses no bigger than modern-day ponies, study finds
11th January 2022 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Humans

In films and literature, they are usually depicted as hulking, foot-stomping, snorting beasts but a new study has claimed that the medieval warhorse was typically a much slighter, daintier animal.

Goldfish who can drive: why scientists taught fish to navigate a watery tank on wheels
10th January 2022 | theguardian.com | Animal Life, Humans

It might be an imaginary character straight out of a Dr Seuss book: The goldfish who could drive. But it’s real.

Ichthyosaur: Huge fossilised ‘sea dragon’ found in Rutland reservoir
10th January 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

“I rang up the county council and I said I think I’ve found a dinosaur,” explained Joe Davis, who works at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.

See the spectacular fossils from a newly discovered prehistoric rainforest
9th January 2022 | nationalgeographic.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Hundreds of amazingly well-preserved finds from Australia include plants, insects, fish, and more that existed more than 11 million years ago.

Dinosaur footprints in Penarth date back 200 million years
3rd January 2022 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth

Dinosaur footprints found on a beach in south Wales are actually a “trackway” of footprints dating back more than 200 million years, researchers have found.

Image from: MarnixR (Wiki Commons)

Perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo found in China
22nd December 2021 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Animal Life

Scientists have announced the discovery of a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo that was preparing to hatch from its egg, just like a chicken.

Frozen tardigrade becomes first ‘quantum entangled’ animal in history, researchers claim
21st December 2021 | livescience.com | Animal Life, Humans, Tech

Tardigrades — those microscopic, plump-bodied critters lovingly known as “moss piglets” — have been put through the ringer for science.

Ancient sheep poop reveals an unknown population on Faroe Islands before Vikings
17th December 2021 edition.cnn.com | Ancient, Animal Life, Earth, Humans

The isolated Faroe Islands were once home to an unknown population in 500 AD, about 350 years before Vikings ever arrived, according to new research. And the evidence comes from an unusual source: ancient sheep poop.

News stories covering Animal Science, bacterial life, DNA.