Animals doing stuff

Young bats learn to be discriminating when listening for their next meal.

From @ConversationUS: "Over the years, our research team has learned a great deal from frog-eating bats about how sound and echolocation are used to find prey, as well as the role of learning and memory in foraging success."

https://flip.it/623ccr

#Animals #Bats #Biology #Science

Acupuncture for animals? A veterinary professor explains how the practice is becoming more mainstream.

From @ConversationUS: "A perentie lizard in Dallas, an African penguin in Boston and an Oberhasli goat in Chicago are just a few recent examples of animals at zoos and aquariums benefiting recently from acupuncture therapy."

https://flip.it/VTZiCz

#Animals #Acupuncture #Veterinary #Medicine #Science

Female bonobos find strength in numbers, teaming up to fend off males in the wild, a new study finds.

@AssociatedPress reports: https://flip.it/POWYbL

#Animals #Primates #Science #Gender

A new study shows how the disappearance of an apex predator, the great white shark, from South Africa’s False Bay triggered changes throughout the food chain.

With the loss of the top predator in the area, populations of its prey species, such as fur seals and sevengill sharks, increased; the latter’s prey, meanwhile, small fish and smaller benthic sharks, declined.

By Victoria Schneider
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/loss-of-great-white-sharks-triggers-domino-effect-down-food-chain-study-shows/

#News #Conservation #Environment #Wildlife #Animals #Sharks

When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, the lava, ash and debris turned the landscape barren for miles around. Then a team of scientists sent a few gophers there for a day trip. The result? The critters revitalized the ecosystem. Read more from @[email protected]:

https://flip.it/M1bw_6

#Science #Animals #Geology #Volcano #Mountains

Proposed U.S. rule change on endangered species triggers alarm for environmentalists.

@AssociatedPress reports environmentalists fear the change "would lead to the extinction of critically endangered species because of logging, mining, development and other activities."

https://flip.it/FN-SU1

#Animals #Endangered #Wildlife #Environment #Science

Some good news! 🐢

Endangered sea turtle populations show signs of recovery in more than half the world, survey finds.

From @AssociatedPress: https://flip.it/XDliIY

#Turtles #Animals #Wildlife #Conservation #Science #Ocean

A century after its discovery, scientists capture first confirmed footage of a colossal squid in the deep.

From @ConversationUS: https://flip.it/DyQTuK

#Squid #Ocean #Animals #Science

How nature makes a complex brain — and why humans may not be so special after all.

@npr reports: "A recent series of studies suggests that the brains of birds, reptiles and mammals all evolved independently — even though they share a common ancestor."

https://flip.it/VoQ7XN

#Brain #Evolution #Science #Animals

There are an estimated 1 billion domesticated dogs in the world. So it’s no surprise that humans hold them in such high regard. But our beloved dogs are the most common large predator in the world and “have a far greater, more insidious and more concerning effect on wildlife and the environment than we would like to be the case.” Read more from @ScienceAlert:

https://flip.it/mnLgVG

#Science #Animals #Dogs #Predators #Environment #Wildlife

Do insects feel pain? Bugs are everywhere in farming and research — but insect welfare is just catching up.

An ethics professor explores the issue in an essay for @ConversationUS: https://flip.it/_1Ow1u

#Insects #Ethics #Science #Research #Animals

Scientists genetically engineer wolves with white hair and muscular jaws like the extinct dire wolf.

@AssociatedPress reports the species went extinct more than 10,000 years ago.

https://flip.it/x6yhsK

#Animals #Extinction #Science #Genetics #Wolf

Super Rat: the record-setting rodent sniffing out landmines and saving lives.

From @CNN: "Rats don’t always have the best reputations, but one named Ronin with a super sense of smell is working to change that."

https://flip.it/oyPvly

#Animals #Rat #Landmines #Science #Cambodia

The start-up Colossal Biosciences aims to use gene-editing technology to bring back the woolly mammoth and other extinct species. But is this a good idea?

An editorial in @ArsTechnica argues that it isn't: https://flip.it/TwacwC

#Extinction #Science #Animals #Genetics #DNA

Never too late. A roughly 100-year-old western Santa Cruz Galápagos tortoise has become a mom for the first time after reproducing with a male of the same age at the Philadelphia Zoo. Read about it @LiveScience:

https://flip.it/KIn6oC

#Science #Animals #Reptiles #Turtles

Seeing mountain gorillas in the wild is a magical bucket list experience for many travelers to Rwanda, but it hasn’t always been possible. Poachers decimated gorilla numbers in the 1960s and 70s. Then came the Rwandan genocide in 1994. @BBCNews has more on the global success story of mountain gorilla conservation, partly due to the annual celebrations of baby gorillas being born.

https://flip.it/k4GJ-P

#Culture #Animals #Africa #Gorillas #Rwanda

Bonobos’ calls may be the closest thing to animal language we’ve seen.

@ArsTechnica reports: "300 aspects of each call were cataloged, letting researchers estimate meaning."

https://flip.it/Sm8kwW

#Animals #Primates #Anthropology #Language #Science #Evolution

"Demonic" sea lion reports spark concerns about toxic algae on California coast.

@abc reports: "The sea lions are likely being poisoned by domoic acid, a neurotoxin within the algae blooms, which they ingest through the fish they eat, according to marine experts."

https://flip.it/Zc299Q

#Animals #Environment #Science

That's quite enough news for one evening.
Here's an orangutan babysitting some tiger cubs 🥰
Enjoy your night, Fedi friends!

#Animals #Nature

The American "influencer" who snatched a baby wombat in Australia has apologized.

@AssociatedPress has an explainer about these furry, nocturnal marsupials: https://flip.it/3ddhr5

#Wombat #Animals #Wildlife #Influencer

What to know about the bird flu outbreak in wild birds and what it means for backyard bird feeders.

@AssociatedPress reports: "More than 170 species of North American wild birds have been infected with bird flu."

https://flip.it/DR.HSR

#BirdFlu #Birds #Animals #Disease #BirdWatching

Scientists have combined passive acoustic monitoring, machine-learning tools and aerial surveys to estimate the population of North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay.

Using the method, researchers from Cornell University in the U.S. were able to estimate the daily population of the whales over a period of four months.

By Abhishyant Kidangoor
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/counting-whales-by-eavesdropping-on-their-chatter-with-help-from-machine-learning/

#News #Conservation #Environment #Animals #ConservationTechnology #Whales

Narwhals may use their iconic tusks to play.

Science News reports on research showing "the Arctic whales poked and prodded a fish that isn't usually a part of their diet."

https://flip.it/GM..Nj

#Narwhals #Animals #Whale #Ocean #Science

Why did the iguana cross the ocean?

Science News reports: The mystery of how iguanas crossed the Pacific Ocean may be solved.

https://flip.it/MlPa5c

#Iguana #Animals #Science #Reptiles #Evolution

From @ScienceAlert: Baleen whales undertake some of the longest yearly migrations, with humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) travelling up to 8,300 km (about 5,150 miles) from Antarctica to warmer wintering grounds. With them, the whales shuttle resources from nutrient-rich polar regions to the less resourced warmer regions of the oceans. Amazingly enough, a huge amount of this nutrient distribution comes from whale urine, which disperses nitrogen and other elements through the ocean when nature inevitably calls.

https://flip.it/4SH_CN

#Science #Oceans #Whales #Animals