Genetics isn't as important as once thought for the evolution of altruistic social behavior in some organisms, a new insight into a decade-long debate.
This is the first empirical evidence that suggests social behavior in eusocial species -- organisms that are highly organized, with divisions of infertile workers -- is only mildly attributed to how related...
Family of rodents may explain how some groups of animals become so diverse
How did a single species of rodent invade South America and then quickly branch off into 350 new species?
The answer is simple -- the rodents were able to move quickly across the continent unencumbered by geographic boundaries that can't be easily crossed such as an ocean.
FSU Professor of Biological Science Scott Steppan and his former...
Tropical frogs found to coexist with deadly fungus
Amphibian biologists from around the world watched in horror in 2004, as the frogs of El Copé, Panama, began dying by the thousands. The culprit: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a deadly fungus more commonly known as chytrid fungus. Within months, roughly half of the frog species native to the area went locally extinct.
A new study led by...
Cuisine of early farmers revealed by analysis of proteins in pottery from Çatalhöyük
Knowledge of the diet of people living in the prehistoric settlement of Çatalhöyük almost 8000 years ago has been completed in astonishing scope and detail by analyzing proteins from their ceramic bowls and jars. Using this new approach, an international team of researchers has determined that vessels from this early farming site in central Anatolia,...
Cobra cannibalism more prevalent than previously thought
Last spring, researchers in South Africa's Kalahari Desert found a large male cape cobra devouring another smaller male of the same species. Surprised by the thought-to-be-rare event, they decided to investigate how common and widespread cannibalism was in cobras.
Apart from a few species, scientific understanding of snake diets is lacking. Snakes are elusive creatures that...
More mammals than expected live near people
It's a jungle out there in the suburbs, where many wild mammals are thriving near humans. That's the conclusion of a large-scale study using camera trap images from hundreds of citizen scientists in Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, North Carolina.
The study contradicts assumptions that developed areas have fewer mammals and less variety in mammal species, says...