The fishers are back, in Washington at least.
The first time I heard about fishers was when I was discussing a little-known Florida cryptid, the “cracker dog-killer,” with a friend from Vermont. They […]
zoology
Science Art: Pigtailed Baboon, 1811.
According to the accompanying text, this illustration depicts a baboon species “easily distinguished by its tail, which is four inches long, slender, and exactly like […]
Polar bears without sea ice (a story of hope).
Nature reports on polar bears who appear to be adapting to climate change by altering their hunting strategies to survive in a world without sea […]
Bats mimic buzzing hornets to scare predators away.
Science magazine reveals the first known case of a mammal mimicking insect noises, in a study that found greater mouse-eared bats imitate stinging insect buzzes […]
Science Art: Water-voles, 1911.
This is a pair of water-voles looking ready for a Wind in the Willows-style adventure, only without any waistcoats or trousers. They’re featured in a […]
Science Art: Caméleon, Sébastien Le Clerc, 1676
This is a chameleon seen inside and out in Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire naturelle des animaux, by Claude Perrault, an early text on natural […]
Science Art: Head of Falcon, Showing Beak, Nostril, Eye, and Ear…, 1889
From an impressive page of bird diagrams in the Rand, McNally & Co.’s Encyclopedia and Gazetteer. “Birds are in some ways the highest of vertebrate […]
Science Art: Spectacled Caiman and a False Coral Snake by Dorothea Maria Graff
An illustration of two reptiles, from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium II. These two creatures were painted sometime in the first decade of the 1700s by German […]
Science Art: Thumbless Bat, 1857
This bat is probably misnamed, since its wings are hands and it has a digit in those wings it would recognize as a thumb, just […]
Science Art: Holothuria Pentactes, Lin. – die Rippenblasse, from from Gemeinnüzzige Naturgeschichte des Thierreichs (A Natural History of the Animal Kingdom).
That’s the funniest lookin’ carrot I’ve ever seen. A real cuckoo-maria. In fact, that’s its name now – Cucumaria frondosa is the scientific name, and […]
SONG: Small
SONG: “Small” ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on Science News, 4 Feb 2021, “A new chameleon species may be the world’s tiniest reptile”, as used in […]
Just discovered: world’s tiniest reptile.
Science News shows off a critter from Madagascar that is very small, yet enormously cute. You have to see this. Click the link to meet […]
Kangaroos intentionally communicate with humans.
Sci-News.com wants all of us to know that kangaroos, despite never having been domesticated, still want to let us know what they’re thinking: …[S]aid lead […]
Young ravens equal grown-up chimps on IQ tests.
Scientific American looks at a new round of tests that ravens as young as 4 months old have passed with flying colors, outwitting adult great […]
Birdies with the big, cute eyes are in the most danger from deforestation.
Science explains the odd irony behind the fact that the cutest birds – the ones gazing out at you with those big eyes – are […]