Nature isn’t just red in tooth and claw – sometimes it’s downright bizarre. Across the animal kingdom, evolution has equipped creatures with an astonishing armoury of unconventional, often outrageous defence strategies. Some wrap themselves in mucus sleeping bags, others weaponise their own skeletons or bodily fluids – and a few simply out-slime anything that dares […]
Tag: predators
Watch dramatic BBC footage shows desperate, ravenous leopard mother risking death for her cubs, high in the treetops
In Botswana’s wild Okavango Delta, leopards love to feast on large ungulates, such as antelope and zebra. The Delta is usually home to a rich array of flora and fauna, attracting huge populations of elephants, hippopotamuses, crocodiles, buffalo and antelope from across the region. The abundance of prey makes it a prime location for Africa’s […]
Giant Bats Eat Birds Mid-Air, and the Process Is Pretty Gruesome
Biologists knew that some bats ate birds because they found feathers and bones in bat poop. But no one had actually seen how bats did it. They just assumed that it would’ve been a sight to behold since you’d be watching bats take down bigger, faster, meaner prey. Ars Technica reports that Elena Tena, a […]
Smithsonian Scientists Are Giving Endangered Species A Second Chance
According to CBS News, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Virginia is quietly working to pull species back from the brink of extinction. On its 32,000-acre campus in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, more than 20 at-risk species — from red pandas to maned wolves and even Mongolia’s Przewalski’s horse — are […]
Kenya revives poisoning campaign to curb invasive Indian house crows
NAIROBI ― Introduced to East Africa in 1891, in Zanzibar, to deal with domestic food waste, Indian house crows are now wreaking havoc in Kenya: killing native small birds, likely spreading disease, damaging food crops, and generally being a nuisance at tourist spots, open-space parties and businesses. The country is now battling millions of invasive […]
Cavity-Nesting Birds Use Shed Snake Skin in Nest Construction to Deter Predators
Many species of birds use shed snake skin in nest construction, but this behavior is poorly understood. In new research, ornithologists at Cornell University used comparative and experimental approaches to suggest that the evolution of this behavior is mediated by nest morphology and predator communities. They used a series of experiments and comparisons to test […]
Otters among UK wildlife carrying toxic ‘forever chemicals’, analysis shows
Dolphins, otters, porpoises, fish and birds across the UK have been found to have toxic “forever chemicals” in their tissue and organs, analysis of official data has revealed. Manmade chemicals called PFAS, known as forever chemicals because they do not degrade, are used in a wide range of consumer products and industrial processes and some […]
Ethiopian Wolves May Be Surprising Pollinators
Ethiopian wolves, known for their carnivorous diet, have been observed licking nectar from red hot poker flowers in the Bale Mountains. These wolves, with their white snouts dusted yellow by pollen, may play an unexpected role in plant pollination. Sandra Lai, an ecologist from Oxford University, and her team noted this unusual behavior, suggesting that […]