News
“It was just bones all over the floor.” Fossil hunters make astounding discovery in Texan water cave
5+ hour, 34+ min ago (522+ words) A flooded cave in central Texas has yielded the remains of Ice Age animals that have never been found in the region before" Wearing a wet suit, goggles and a snorkel, palaeontologist John Moretti conducted the first ever palaeontological study…...
What’s the fastest land mammal in Australia? It can outpace a human thanks to giant ‘springs’ in its legs
18+ hour, 22+ min ago (177+ words) It can outrun a human and has giant spring-like legs " meet the quickest terrestrial mammal Down Under Australia has a reputation for being full of deadly " and often wonderfully weird " wildlife. But many of its endemic animals, such as the…...
"It has five limbs covered in hundreds of hydraulic, rubbery feet and no head – or even a defined front, back, left or right" – what on Earth are echinoderms?
4+ day, 23+ hour ago (198+ words) Stuart Blackman explains all you need to know about echinoderms and how they evolved It's possible to make a pretty good stab at where most animals sit on the tree of life. It doesn't take a huge imaginative leap to…...
From anal ventilators to boiling, toxic fart machines: 10 weirdest and deadliest bottoms on the planet
1+ week, 1+ day ago (444+ words) From explosive sea cucumbers to beetles that spray boiling toxic fluid from their bums, the world of wildlife is full of unexpected adaptations. These butts aren't just weird "they're life-saving We might lead from the front, but our back ends…...
“It’s a bit like sea turtle forensics." Scientists looked inside 24 turtles – and uncovered secrets from the past
1+ week, 5+ day ago (372+ words) Sea turtle shells are helping researchers learn more about major environmental changes in the ocean's past. The stories of sea turtles can be told from their shells. Borrowing tools from archaeology, researchers have been able to reconstruct a timeline of…...
Sneaky tricks, killer toxins and exploding penises: Evolution’s 7 wildest battles for supremacy and survival
2+ week, 3+ day ago (395+ words) Evolutionary war drives ingenuity at every scale, says Jules Howard nicholas_dale / Getty Images In the natural world, survival isn't just about strength or speed'it's a high-stakes battle of wits, chemistry, and sometimes downright bizarre biology. From cheetahs chasing gazelles across the…...
Just how on Earth are ibex able to scale vertical, sheer cliff faces?The secrets behind their seemingly impossible climbs
2+ week, 3+ day ago (141+ words) The Alpine ibex's amazing climbing ability is all down to its feet senorcampesino / Getty Images Alpine ibex are renowned for their apparent gravity-defying ability to scale near-vertical surfaces to feed (on plants and salt) and escape predators. The secret to…...
Super predators over 10 metres long once dominated our oceans – unlike anything seen today, say scientists
3+ mon, 2+ week ago (425+ words) A team of researchers reconstructed an ancient marine ecosystem " and discovered a previously unseen seventh layer in its food chain Researchers have discovered ancient marine predators were far more powerful than any seen today, dominating waters at the very top…...
436-million-year-old fossil found in South China is oldest complete bony fish ever discovered
4+ week, 21+ hour ago (468+ words) The discovery of two ancient fish in South China has re-written what we thought we knew about the evolution of early vertebrates. After more than a decade of fieldwork and exhaustive laboratory work, a team from the Chinese Academy of…...
Why did a T-Rex have such ridiculous, puny arms?
1+ mon, 20+ hour ago (170+ words) Few things have stirred up more debate than the diminutive forelimbs of T. rex and its close cousins. The original idea, from Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1906, was that they had evolved to somehow support copulation. Since this time many other theories…...