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Animals

More Stories in Animals

  1. A photo of a jumping bean moth resting on a seed pod.
    Animals

    Jumping beans’ random strategy always leads to shade — eventually

    Jumping beans use randomness to maximize their chances of getting out of the sun’s heat, a new study finds.
    By James R. Riordon
  2. image of male and female orb spiders mating
    Animals

     These are our favorite animal stories of 2022

    Goldfish driving cars, skydiving salamanders and spiders dodging postcoital death are among the critters that most impressed the Science News staff.
    By Deborah Balthazar
  3. A photo of a female common death adder on a bed of leaves
    Animals

    Scientists thought snakes didn’t have clitorises. They were wrong

    Snakes were long thought to be the only reptile group to lack clitorises. But new findings suggest the sex organs are present after all.
    By Jake Buehler
  4. A close up photo of a fossilized male katydid
    Paleontology

     Katydids had the earliest known insect ears 160 million years ago

    Fossils from the Jurassic Period show katydid ears looked identical to those of modern katydids and could pick up short-range calls.
    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  5. three gray wolves standing in the snow
    Life

     A parasite makes wolves more likely to become pack leaders

    In Yellowstone National Park, gray wolves infected with Toxoplasma gondii make riskier decisions, making them more likely to split off from the pack.
    By Jake Buehler
  6. An elephant seen behind an electric fence
    Animals

     A new book asks: What makes humans call some animals pests?

    In an interview with Science News, science journalist Bethany Brookshire discusses her new book, Pests, and why humans vilify certain animals.

    By Deborah Balthazar
  7. A house mouse eating on the ground
    Animals

     A natural gene drive could steer invasive rodents on islands to extinction

    A few genetic tweaks to a readily passed-on chunk of DNA could sterilize a mouse population, eliminating them in as little as 25 years.
    By Bethany Brookshire
  8. Computer artwork of extinct woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) in a snow-covered field. A bison stands in the distance.
    Paleontology

     Mammoths may have gone extinct much earlier than DNA suggests

    Ancient DNA in sediments may be leading paleontologists astray in attempts to figure out when woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos died out, a new study argues.
    By Bas den Hond
  9. On the left a white dog eating from a food bowl and on the right a smaller brown cat eats from a food bowl
    Animals

     Dry pet food may be more environmentally friendly than wet food

    The environmental cost of wet pet food is higher than dry food, scientists say. That may be because wet food gets most of its calories from animals.
    By Meghan Rosen