It takes guts to migrate long distances – literally, if you’re a bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica baueri. This crow-sized shorebird burns not just flab, but even some innards to fuel its marathon migrations. Each autumn, the godwit flies from its breeding grounds in Alaska and Siberia to Australia or New Zealand to spend the winter. […]
Tag: mussels
“They were bouncing off umbrellas and pavements and hopped off in their hundreds…” 10 times it rained animals
You’ve heard of it raining cats and dogs. Thankfully, it’s just a figure of speech, but did you know that sometimes it really does rain animals? From starfish and shrimp to fish and frogs, sometimes creatures really do fall from the sky. The episodes leave people running for cover and scratching their heads, prompting explanations […]
“It is highly territorial and if one of their 192 tentacles come into contact with neighbouring individuals they become extremely hostile…”
Clinging tightly to rocky shores and hidden within shallow tidal pools, beadlet anemones are among the most intriguing — and often overlooked — creatures of the coastline. Where do beadlet anemones live? This beautiful creature is a common sight in rockpools all around the UK, and are one of the few anemones which can live on the […]
“He approaches slowly.” Filmmakers built a robot otter and released it into the Alaskan sea. What it saw was astonishing
Tool use was once believed to be exclusive to humans, but plenty of animals have since been seen using objects to help them forage for food, clean themselves and create shelter. One of these species is sea otters. While sea otters do eat fish, they prefer to eat clams, mussels and crabs. And as they spend […]
‘It’s an open invasion’: how millions of quagga mussels changed Lake Geneva for ever
Like cholesterol clogging up an artery, it took just a couple of years for the quagga mussels to infiltrate the 5km (3-mile) highway of pipes under the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL). By the time anyone realised what was going on, it was too late. The power of some heat exchangers had dropped […]
How Close Are Manatees to Extinction?
The Indian River Lagoon, a long braid of brackish mangroves and shifting islands, runs along Florida’s Atlantic coast. It is home to 4,300 species, including many of the state’s remaining manatees, whose large, paddle-tailed bodies graze slowly through the shallows. For decades, the lagoon has also been a destination for Florida’s municipal sewage. State law […]
With the Great Mussel Die-Off, Scientists Scramble for Answers
Throughout his professional life, U.S. Forest Service researcher Wendell Haag has studied freshwater mussels in their hotspot of biological diversity, which extends across a vast swath of the southeastern United States. His more than 30-year career has been overshadowed by a single question: Why are the bivalves in this region disappearing? Freshwater mussels are one […]