The global impact from invasive species has cost more than $1 trillion since 1970 Invasive species can wreak havoc on ecosystems. These organisms settle into and cause harm in places where they aren’t native. For example, mosquitoes spread diseases. Cats kill birds and some mammals. Many insects chew up cropsContinue Reading
More than a dozen of the sizable birds made themselves at home and destroyed nearly everything in sight. A semirural house in Southern California recently hosted some unruly visitors: more than a dozen condors. They were terrible houseguests; they shredded a screen door and spa cover; destroyed potted plants, lawnContinue Reading
Welcome to Jurassic Park. As we open the gates to this zoo of previously extinct creatures, how would you expect the dinosaurs behind them to look? For those who have read or watched “Jurassic Park,” the image of a dinosaur may have already been planted in your mind. Your perceptionContinue Reading
An excavation site at an ancient watering hole reveals these secrets of the past and more. In north-central Nebraska lies a small park with a big name: Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park and National Natural Landmark. Hidden in the rolling hills, hours from the nearest big city, Ashfall isContinue Reading
They could, in theory. So, why don’t they? Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a heart attack, which amounts to about 805,000 heart attacks every year. Of course, this statistic applies only to humans. But what about other animals — do they also experience this debilitating and potentiallyContinue Reading
A cuckoo bird named PJ just broke an impressive record: He traveled more than 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) in the past five years while migrating to and from the U.K. Common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) spend their winters in Africa and migrate to the U.K. in the spring to breed, typicallyContinue Reading
The so-called Patagonia Picnic Table Effect is a myth, an analysis of bird sightings suggests It was a cold, overcast Saturday morning in Salem, Ore., when Jesse Laney set out to catch a glimpse of a painted bunting. He’d heard earlier that week through a birding WhatsApp group that thisContinue Reading
A new study published in Nature Communications suggests that the extinction of North America’s largest mammals was not driven by overhunting by rapidly expanding human populations following their entrance into the Americas. Instead, the findings, based on a new statistical modelling approach, suggest that populations of large mammals fluctuated inContinue Reading
New theory explains possible origin of plummeting Chicxulub impactor that struck off Mexico It was tens of miles wide and forever changed history when it crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago. The Chicxulub impactor, as it’s known, left behind a crater off the coast of Mexico that spansContinue Reading
Brain imaging reveals that not all monogamous mammals are ‘wired for love’ in the same way Humans aren’t the only mammals that form long-term bonds with a single, special mate — some bats, wolves, beavers, foxes and other animals do, too. But new research suggests the brain circuitry that makesContinue Reading
