The vampire bat lives up to its name. Its diet consists of blood, which it gets by biting animals and lapping up their blood. The vampire bat prefers to feed on domestic animals such as cows and pigs. When it does so, there is a risk of transmission of pathogens such as rabies. Now, a...
Bottlenose dolphins recorded for the first time in Canadian Pacific waters
A large group of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) have been spotted in Canadian Pacific waters -- the first confirmed occurrence of the species in this area. The sighting is reported in a study published in the open access journal Marine Biodiversity Records.
On 29 July 2017, researchers from Halpin Wildlife Research, in collaboration with the...
Museum researchers rediscover animal not seen in 30 years
Researchers from the San Diego Natural History Museum (The Nat) and the non-profit organization Terra Peninsular A.C. have rediscovered the San Quintin kangaroo rat (Dipodomys gravipes) in Baja California; the Museum is partnering with the organization and local authorities on a conservation plan for the species.
The San Quintin kangaroo rat was last seen in 1986,...
Unprecedented wave of large-mammal extinctions linked to prehistoric humans
Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and other recent human relatives may have begun hunting large mammal species down to size -- by way of extinction -- at least 90,000 years earlier than previously thought, says a new study published in the journal Science.
Elephant-dwarfing wooly mammoths, elephant-sized ground sloths and various saber-toothed cats highlighted the array of massive...
Dogs could be more similar to humans than we thought
Dog and human gut microbiomes have more similar genes and responses to diet than we previously thought, according to a study published in the open access journal, Microbiome.
Dr Luis Pedro Coelho and colleagues from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, in collaboration with Nestlé Research, evaluated the gut microbiome of two dog breeds and found that...
New ant species from Borneo explodes to defend its colony
Amongst the countless fascinating plants and animals inhabiting the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, there are the spectacular "exploding ants," a group of arboreal, canopy dwelling ants nicknamed for their unique defensive behaviour.
When threatened by other insects, minor workers can actively rupture their body wall. Apart from leading to the ants' imminent death, the "explosion"...