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Some families of caterpillars (larvae of butterflies and moths) have developed a specific kind of interaction with ants. One of these families (Riodinidae) includes two species that interact solely with two species of ants.

The Beatles said it best: Love is all you need. And according to new research from The Australian National University (ANU), the same is true in the animal kingdom. Well, at least for mosquitofish—a matchstick-sized fish endemic to Central America and now found globally.

The extensive loss of biodiversity represents one of the major crises of our time, threatening not only entire ecosystems but also our current and future livelihoods. As scientists realize the magnitude and scale of ongoing extinctions, it is vital to ascertain the resources available for conservation and whether funds are being effectively distributed to protect species most in need.

A team of animal behaviorists at the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research in India has found that street dogs living in that country prefer eating from yellow bowls to those of other colors. Their paper is published in the journal Animal Cognition.

Some animals are capable of cooperating with members of other species. An interdisciplinary team involving the biologist Eduardo Sampaio from the University of Konstanz explores the cognitive underpinnings of such cross-species collaborations, opening up a new perspective on the evolution of intelligence and cooperation in the animal kingdom.

A UC Riverside computer science team has developed a sensor-based technology that could revolutionize commercial beekeeping by reducing colony losses and lowering labor costs.

As far as animals go, honeybees are world-class dancers. While not as deep and complex as a Super Bowl half-time show, the bees' moves, known as the "waggle" dance, convey very specific food foraging instructions to their nestmates.

Birds worldwide make strategic decisions about how they live based on their environmental conditions. Some live fast, die young, and leave as many chicks as possible. Others live long and prosper by not breeding. A new study of non-migratory birds provides clues about how climate change may affect the long-standing evolutionary strategies of feathered friends.

For young salmon, the journey along the San Joaquin River in Central California is no small feat. Every spring and fall, thousands of these fish—each as long as a pinky finger—embark on a 350-mile race, swimming day and night and dodging predators along the way to reach the Pacific Ocean.

Knowing where, when and for how long mallard ducks—natural carriers of avian influenza—stop and rest as they migrate can help predict the probability that they will spread bird flu to backyard poultry flocks.

An intriguing native Australian rat-kangaroo, thought to be probably extinct, may still be running around in the inhospitable remote Sturt Stony Desert—and Flinders University researchers have discovered new details about its feeding habits that might help find it.

Only two blue whale births have ever been recorded in human history, both decades ago. This remains an extraordinary mystery, given there used to be hundreds of thousands of blue whales before whaling started—even today, blue whales number around 10,000 to 25,000—and they give birth every two to three years.

A small team of marine biologists at the University of Bristol, in the U.K., working with a colleague from the Regional Research and Innovation Agency of West Papua, Indonesia, has found that wild broadclub cuttlefish adapt their body shape and color in certain ways, depending on circumstances, to hide from unsuspecting prey.

In a rugged stretch of desert in one of the nation's most remote national parks, a volunteer's eyes were caught by a colorful sight sprouting up from the beige and brown of the Chihuahuan Desert—"devil"-ish blooms, flowers like bright red horns.

Studying the social behavior of animals in their natural environments is necessary for advancing our understanding of neurological processes. To achieve this, tracking multiple individuals simultaneously and accurately as they interact in shared spaces is crucial.

The White-bellied Heron (WBH), the world's second-largest heron, is a symbolic bird for the people of Bhutan and also a typical "umbrella species" that requires a habitat with a vast, preserved environment. In recent years, the WBH's habitat has been severely disturbed by human activities, and its population has decreased significantly.

Large birds—our closest relations to dinosaurs—are capable of technical innovation, by solving a physical task to gain access to food. This is the first time scientists have been able to show that palaeognath birds such as emus and rheas can solve tricky problems.

New research shows that turtles are responding to climate change by nesting earlier. Researchers monitoring nesting green and loggerhead turtles in Cyprus have discovered they are returning to their regular nesting spots earlier each year to compensate for rising temperatures.

In a succession of studies published this week and last month in the journals PeerJ and Zootaxa, researchers at Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) Toonen-Bowen (ToBo) Lab, using a technique that explores both genes and structural characteristics, have introduced 10 new species of marine sponge. Despite their distinction as one of Earth's oldest lifeforms and the key role they play in sustaining coral...

A new study by Connecticut College provides strong evidence that palm trees once thrived in subarctic Canada, reshaping scientific understanding of past Arctic climates.

Mild, proactive exposure to environmental stress can help biological communities resist severe disturbances and maintain genetic diversity, a recent study from McGill University has found.

Humanity can farm more food from the seas to help feed the planet while shrinking mariculture's negative impacts on biodiversity, according to new research led by the University of Michigan.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have examined how social models influence memory in great apes. They presented young and adult apes with videos of either a human hand (a social model) or a mechanical claw (a non-social model) building a tower. The results showed that while adult apes remembered towers built by a human hand better than...

Glaciers are huge white ice masses that can reflect a lot of sunlight. However, especially where the glaciers are not covered in snow and the bare ice is exposed, they sometimes have dark patches. These are microscopic algae that grow on the ice and darken its surface. As a result of this darkening, the tiny inhabitants cause the ice to warm up and melt...