The octopus has a motor control challenge of enormous complexity. Each of its eight arms is a muscular hydrostat, a soft-bodied structure that lacks a rigid skeleton and moves with near infinite degrees of freedom. Moreover, the arms are packed with hundreds of suckers which can change shape independently. Even with this complexity, octopuses control […]
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Update to Grizzly Bear Endangered Species Act Listing and Management
DENVER — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a new and comprehensive approach to long-term grizzly bear recovery in the lower 48 states and the concerns of those living with and near bears. The Service is proposing a rule to clarify the geographic area where grizzly bears in the lower 48 states are […]
Mystery syndrome killing rainbow lorikeets and flying foxes leaves scientists baffled
Thousands of rainbow lorikeets and hundreds of flying foxes have been hospitalised in Queensland in the past year with a mysterious paralysis that can affect the animals’ ability to fly, swallow and even breathe. Lorikeet paralysis syndrome has struck birds in Queensland and New South Wales since at least 2012, and a similar syndrome was […]
New study reveals why some birds are all about that bass
Birds produce an impressive variety of songs and calls, but the biological and ecological factors that influence the pitch, or frequencies, that birds create hasn’t been well understood — until now. Previous studies haven’t come to a consensus likely because they were small in scope, focusing on an individual species or a specific range. But […]
Rare January Slaughter: A Grim Start to 2025
On January 10th, the Faroese whalers carried out the first grind of 2025 in Árnafjarðarvík, where 47 pilot whales were slaughtered, including an unknown number of pregnant whales and young calves. This unseasonable practice—occurring in the heart of winter—marks a disturbing shift in the timing and frequency of these hunts, which are already steeped in […]
Victory! Petitions to Reduce or Remove Protections for Wolves are Denied
Petitions from hunting organizations that aimed to reduce or remove protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes and West Coast regions have been rejected by Federal wildlife regulators. Groups such as the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and various bear hunting associations submitted their petitions to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in June 2023. […]
Spiders ‘Smell’ Using Their Legs, Research Finds
Most spiders have eight legs, no ears and use fine leg hairs connected to nerve cells or their webs to hear sounds in their environment. But how do they smell? A new study by an international team of researchers has found that male spiders “smell” with their legs, using olfactory hairs — wall-pore sensilla — […]
Calls to halt kangaroo culling in Victoria’s Grampians after bushfires
Wildlife advocates are calling for a halt to the commercial harvesting of kangaroos in Victoria’s Grampians region after bushfires there. Wildlife Victoria warned of “long-term impacts” on native plants and animals due to the fires, which burned through 76,000 hectares of national park and farmland, and called for a stop to the controversial practice until […]