Scientists discover a hidden “ID card” in cat urine
Cats may identify one another through a surprisingly durable chemical “calling card” made from 13 unusual fatty acids in their urine. The compounds appear linked to mysterious fat droplets in…
Crocodiles are famous for finding their way home. These ones didn’t
Captive-raised saltwater crocodiles released into Bangladesh’s Sundarbans surprised scientists by settling into the wild rather than trying to return to their breeding facility. The result suggests that releasing larger, mature…
66-million-year-old feather in dinosaur poop may reveal why birds survived the asteroid
A feather discovered inside 66-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur poop may help explain why modern birds survived the asteroid catastrophe. The extinct bird it came from had more primitive insulating feathers, suggesting…
The American “cheetah” wasn’t a cheetah at all
The extinct “American cheetah” was not really a cheetah at all, but a puma relative with an unexpectedly flexible lifestyle. Fossils from the Yukon suggest northern populations survived partly by…
Doctors saved this rare monkey from amputation. Months later, she gave birth
A critically endangered roloway monkey has given birth just months after surgeons performed an unusual operation that saved her foot from amputation. Her new daughter, Lagertha, is an important addition…
A coffee-table-size scorpion roamed Earth before forests existed
A meter-long scorpion with massive pincers stalked ancient Britain 415 million years ago, long before forests and the better-known age of giant insects. Its surprising size and possible semi-aquatic lifestyle…
Fossil feet may be misleading scientists about human evolution
Wild monkeys in West Africa can climb vertical tree trunks using foot flexibility scientists did not realize they possessed. The discovery challenges a key assumption about what the last common…
Dogs may hold surprising clues to human longevity
Dogs and humans may have more in common when it comes to aging than scientists realized. Researchers with the Dog Aging Project found that patterns of small molecules in dogs’…
Scientists tracked 4,500 animals and found a surprising human effect
Scientists tracking thousands of animals found that our physical presence can reshape where wildlife moves and lives, sometimes as strongly as roads, cities, and other human development. Because different species…
Scientists find hidden “highways” guiding animal evolution
A sweeping analysis of thousands of animal genomes suggests that chromosomes do not evolve randomly but instead follow a limited number of irreversible “evolutionary highways.” These one-way genetic changes preserve…