Today's crocodiles and alligators may be voracious carnivores, but their early relatives had a vegetarian diet, surprising new research has revealed. While it's hard to imagine a modern-day croc opting for the foliage in a Florida garden, rather than eyeing the pets that live there, studies of fossilized crocodyliform teeth suggest that wasn't always the case.
The mysterious giant squid has been caught on camera again, seven years after a US team first spotted the striking deep sea creature. The elusive squid, or Architeuthis, is believed to potentially grow to up to 43 feet in length, making it one of the largest living organisms. However it's also proved incredibly difficult to film.
Along the Mississippi-Alabama coast here in the United States, tiger sharks can be found. This shark is second only to the Great White Shark in recorded attacks on humans that've turned fatal. It would also seem that these sharks eat songbirds. It would seem that tiger sharks eat songbirds in significant numbers.
In the Gulf of California, Mexico, a team of researchers dove deep and found a series of venting mineral towers. These towers were up to 10 meters across, 23 meters tall, and were "teeming with biodiversity and potentially novel fauna." And they were colorful - so very colorful. The most shocking part about this situation is the fact that these same spots were visited a decade ago and none of what we see here was there - it's all new!
Two species of tiny pumpkin toadlets were the subject of a research project published today, them and their glowing bones. This isn't the first time these little babies (Brachycephalus ephippium and B. pitanga) were discovered - they've been known since the year 1824 when they were first classified by the German biologist Johann Baptist von Spix. Today we got some insight into the reasons for this endangered species' strangest feature - internal florescence!
Researchers have created a robotic link between bees and fish, allowing them to communicate with one another. If there were ever a moment in time in which I felt the Jurassic Park character Ian Malcolm were more appropriate to quote, I now throw that time aside. "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could," said Malcolm, "they didn’t stop to think if they should."
A report from NASA showed that a glacier in Greenland was growing, but warned that the news isn't all positive. The fact that the glacier, Jakobshavn, seems to be growing is good news, at first glance. Melting glaciers is indicative of climate change and a major sign that pollution is destroying our planet's livable environment. But the way this glacier is growing isn't sustainable - and because it's only likely short-term growth, the knee-jerk reaction in the press and on social media platforms is to call all environmentalists frauds and global warming a lie.
The effects of climate change have been well proven in areas like weather patterns and animal habitats, but a new study highlights how the same problems are found in our oceans, with rising sea temperatures having a significant impact on the world's fisheries. Led by Rutgers, the research shows that critical fisheries have seen at least a 4% drop in populations since 1930, with certain areas experiencing as much as a 35% decline.
The Amazon rainforest is home to many terrifying creatures, not the least of which are gigantic tarantulas the size of dinner plates. A team of biologists led by the University of Michigan recently captured one of these giant spiders on video, and it highlights just how huge the critters are: it was seen dragging a possum through the rainforest in Peru.
It's well-known that bees play an important role around the globe, with their pollination process responsible for the survival of plants that humans rely on. With recent years seeing different bee populations in various regions threatened, it's becoming essential to understand and ensure their health. A recent study has found a specific group of genes in honeybees that could be used to improve their survivability.
We are, right now, headed down a road that leads to this planet's 6th mass extinction. It's not inevitable, but it is highly likely, and it's not particularly likely that we'll be able to avoid massive loss of life over the next few hundred years. A study published this week added to previous assertions that we're headed toward global trouble, suggesting that "over 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction" right this minute.
The first and last images captured by the NASA-JPL space telescope Kepler are shown here side-by-side. This craft was launched back on March 7th, 2009, and its planned mission duration was 3.5 years. A full 9 years, 7 months, and 23 days later, it was still doing work. Now that span is over, and the final data's come in.