Such rapid evolution likely let snakes exploit more ecological gaps than lizards after the cataclysmic mass extinction that occurred 66 million years ago doomed several groups of reptiles, including nonavian dinosaurs. This versatility is still reflected in the diets of snakes today. Most living lizards stick to insects or other small arthropods; snakes are generally much more adventurous and will prey on animals ranging from rodents and birds to kangaroos and crocodilians.
Snakes saw a burst of adaptation about 128 million years ago that led to them exploding in diversity and evolving up to three times faster t
The ants accomplish this process by cultivating fungus on fresh leaves in specialized underground structures. These structures ultimately become the fungal gardens that consume the material. Resident bacterial members help with the degradation by producing amino acids and vitamins that support the overall garden ecosystem.Â
But what makes this fungal community so difficult to study is its complexity. While the plants, fungus, ants, and bacteria are all active components in the plant degradation process, none of them focus on one task or reside in one location.Â
All of these components together helped affirm the fungus as the primary degrader of the plant material in the system. Additionally, the team determined that the bacteria present in the system transformed previously digested plant polymers into metabolites that are used as vitamins and amino acids in the system. These vitamins and amino acids benefit the entire ecosystem by accelerating fungal growth and plant degradation.
By Maegan Murray Credit: Illustration by Mike Perkins and Nathan Johnson | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory By Maegan Murray Scientists
A LONDON-BASED archaeology group, unearthed the bones of a gigantic dog from a shallow grave, about 20 inches deep, in the ruins of Leiston Abbey, Suffolk. Archaeologists estimate that the canine stood more than seven-feet-tall on its hind legs and weighed about 200 pounds.
Researchers believe the canine bones likely date to when the abbey was active, so are likely medieval, but they are awaiting confirmation from testing.
English folklore is full of stories about a supernatural dog, known as Black Shuck, that prowled the countryside around Leiston Abbey about 500 years ago. Due to the size and date of the bones, many have speculated that these large canine remains could be connected to the legend of Black Shuck.
Last year DigVentures, a London-based archaeology group, unearthed the bones of a gigantic dog from a shallow grave, about 20 inches deep, i
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in the UK is trying a new plan to contain its growing group of foul-mouthed African grey parrots. The zoo will introduce the expletive-loving birds to a larger flock in hopes that the other parrots will pass along their good manners. But there is a chance that the experiment will only end up causing more bird cussing.
In 2020, the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park adopted five African grey parrots—Billy, Tyson, Eric, Jade, and Elsie—that soon revealed themselves to be very talented at throwing out swear words.Â
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Park will integrate its eight foul-mouthed African grey parrots into the main flock to hopefully 'dilute' their sw
As one form of extremotolerance, tardigrades can survive almost complete desiccation by entering a dormant state called anhydrobiosis (i.e., life without water), which allows them to reversibly halt their metabolism.
The authors were surprised by the sheer number of independent duplications of heat-soluble genes, which painted a much more complex picture of anhydrobiosis-related gene evolution.
Tardigrades may be nature's ultimate survivors. While these tiny, nearly translucent animals are easily overlooked, they represent a diverse
Researchers have succeeded in creating a device that spins artificial spider silk that closely matches what spiders naturally produce. The artificial silk gland was able to re-create the complex molecular structure of silk by mimicking the various chemical and physical changes that naturally occur in a spider's silk gland.
Famous for its strength, flexibility, and light weight, spider silk has a tensile strength that is comparable to steel of the same diameter, and a strength-to-weight ratio that is unparalleled. Added to that, it's biocompatible, meaning that it can be used in medical applications, as well as biodegradable.
So why isn't everything made from spider silk?
Large-scale harvesting of silk from spiders has proven impractical for several reasons, leaving it up to scientists to develop a way to produce it in the laboratory.
Researchers have succeeded in creating a device that spins artificial spider silk that closely matches what spiders naturally produce. The a
A recent study in Royal Society Open Science shows that humans can intuitively pick up on basic chicken emotions—excitement and discontent—by the sound of their clucks alone. Nearly 70 percent of people could match the cluck with the correct emotion regardless of their previous experience with chickens, or lack thereof. This research reminds us of humans’ innate connection to other beings, and our ability to pick up on universal signs of happiness and distress.
This is a remarkable result and further strengthens evidence that humans have the ability to perceive the emotional context of vocalizations made by different species.
Chickens can communicate with each other in a myriad of ways. They use body language such as flashing their feathers, but their less expressive faces may lead humans to overlook their complex emotions.
A new study shows most people can tune into how chickens are feeling based on their clucks alone.
Dogged by climate change and human hunters, a mammoth’s life is written in her tusks
Elma spent most of her time in two regions about 1000 kilometers apart, one in eastern Alaska, the other in western Yukon. Both are rich in signs of human presence. Artifacts at Elma’s final resting place, Swan Point, date back 14,000 years. The site “is largely regarded as the earliest unequivocal evidence for human occupation in Beringia,” the now partly submerged land between Alaska and Siberia.
The fact that Kik and Elma largely traveled the same trails, despite being separated by 4000 years, suggests consistent, predictable movement patterns, the authors say. As with modern game animals such as elk, that may have allowed humans to plan hunting camps around their presence. Swan Point contains the same types of small, razorlike projectile blades known to have felled Siberian mammoths some 30,000 years earlier.
DNA from Elma’s tusks revealed she was closely related to previously excavated juvenile and infant mammoths at Swan Point.
At the very least, the juvenile and neonate were probably hunted by humans.
Elma herself might have been felled by humans: Isotopes in the outermost layers of her tusks suggest she was healthy and well-nourished when she died.
But many species of reptiles, amphibians and fish do not show signs of ageing. Examples include turtles and tortoises, salamanders and rockfishes.
One study of 77 species of reptiles and amphibians published in Science in 2022 showed that age-related increases in mortality are not seen in many species of reptiles and amphibians. It is as if these animals do not age at all. Some of these animals, such as turtles, probably live longer than humans.
Perhaps if we study these apparently non-ageing species for long enough they will show signs of ageing. But good luck studying animals such as the Greenland shark, which has been estimated to live nearly 400 years.
These animals die mainly from being eaten by predators and diseases. Indeed, most animals in the wild do not die of old age and, until the 20th century, of course, most people died of infectious diseases.
Some reptiles, amphibians and fish are also known for their ability to regenerate tissue.
Amphibians evolved from fish about 370 million years ago, and about 50 million years later reptiles evolved from amphibians. Mammals then evolved from reptiles about 250-300 million years ago.
For 100 million years, during the time of the dinosaurs, mammals were at or near the bottom of the food chain. Mammals were more often prey than predators. During this time there was no reason for mammals to keep processes and genes related to long life, such as DNA repair and tissue regeneration systems.
Our mammal ancestors evolved to compete with dinosaurs but may have lost something in the process.
The first animals to fly on Earth could have very well evolved wings from their gills.
A team of researchers from the Czech Republic and Germany have analyzed the prehistoric fossils of flying insects from roughly 300 million years ago and identified wing- and gill-like structures that look remarkably similar.
The discovery suggests that some of the first winged insects were aquatic or semi-aquatic as larvae, and the results could help solve one of the greatest mysteries bugging evolutionary biologists today: Where did insects get their wings?
The first animals to fly on Earth could have very well evolved wings from their gills.
Many scientific studies over many years have demonstrated that fish feel pain. To be precise, this doesn’t just mean that fish physically react to potentially injurious stimuli, but rather, that they actually experience a sensation of pain.
In a study conducted by the University of Liverpool, zebrafish were given a choice of two tanks: One was barren, while the other was enriched with pleasant views of other fish and foliage. Initially, the zebrafish chose to be in the enriched tank. However, some of the fish were then injected with acid, while the barren tank was pumped full of painkillers. The fish who’d been injected with acid moved to the tank with the painkillers.
A  similar study, conducted by Sneddon in 2002, sought to test fishes’ psychological states, not just their physical reactions, when exposed to pain. This time, the subjects were rainbow trout.
First, Lego blocks were dropped into their tank; under normal circumstances, a trout will avoid an unfamiliar object in its presence. But the trout in this study were injected with acid, and once they were, they stopped trying to avoid the Legos — presumably, because they were distracted by their own pain. Meanwhile, a second group of trout was injected with acid and then morphine, a powerful painkiller. The trout who received the acid and the morphine behaved as they normally would have (that is, by avoiding the Legos).
