Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 28, 2019

Mammoth DNA Briefly 'Woke Up' Inside Mouse Eggs. But Cloning Mammoths Is Still a Pipe Dream.

A handful of 28,0000-year-old woolly mammoth cell parts were recently woken up for a short time in a new experiment, but cloning the ice age beasts is still a long way off. In the experiment, the researchers extracted cells from Yuka, a woolly mammoth mummy (Mammuthus primigenius) whose remains were...

Jan 31, 2019

Rarely Glimpsed Scaly Pangolins Caught Hugging Trees in the Dark

See more New video of giant pangolins shows these bizarre scaly creatures in their natural (nocturnal) habitat in Uganda. In the videos, the blunt-nosed creatures — which are the only mammals with scales — are seen meandering about the undergrowth, sniffing for food and danger. In one clip, a baby...

Dec 31, 2018

Sheep Ain't Baa-aad at Recognizing Faces (But Humans Are Better)

Facial recognition specialists from Australia recently revisited the 2017 study. They admitted that the experiments provided a compelling demonstration that sheep could differentiate between human faces, but they challenged the authors' conclusion that sheep could recognize faces as well as humans and other primates can. As experts in human facial...

Sep 30, 2020

How the same tech in your Nintendo Wii is tracking wild and wily wolverines

For ecologists studying wolverines — mid-sized carnivores found across the boreal forest and Arctic tundra of North America, across Europe's Nordic mainland, and throughout the Russian north — technology that you'd find in a smartphone is offering an unparalleled glimpse of how these animals behave. Twenty-five years ago, the only...

Apr 30, 2020

Dogs are being trained to sniff out COVID-19 in humans

Scientists are training dogs to identify COVID-19 by following their noses. A new program at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) is putting noses to the grindstone for disease detection. Researchers are working with dogs to see if the canines' superior sniffers can help with early...

Jan 31, 2020

5 reasons hyenas like Harley Quinn's 'Bruce' are amazing

D.C. Comics' manic pixie criminal Harley Quinn gets it: Hyenas are delightful. In the movie Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020, Warner Bros. Pictures), Ms. Quinn (Margot Robbie) acquires some new partners in crime, including a large and very intimidating hyena that she bestows...

Jan 31, 2020

Madagascar's bizarre aye-aye has 6 fingers on each hand, scientists discover

The aye-aye is one of nature's most fascinatingly bizarre creatures. Native to Madagascar, this lemur is the largest nocturnal primate in the world and has unique features that set it apart. It has bat‐like ears that allow it to echo-locate and rodent-like ever-growing incisors — both unique among primates. It...

Dec 31, 2019

Nutria: The invasive, unusually large rodents

Nutria, also known as coypu, are large rodents that live in areas with lots of freshwater. Despite sometimes being called swamp rats, nutria are not rats. These mammals are native to South America and were introduced into the United States between 1899 and 1930 through the fur industry, according to...

Oct 31, 2021

Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

Zebras are iconic for their distinctive coats, but have you ever wondered whether zebras are white with black stripes or black with white stripes? The stunning black-and-white coloration of the zebra's hide stands out in stark contrast with the dry, brown-and-green, treeless grasslands and savannah woodlands of their home territories...

Jul 31, 2021

(VIDEO) Watch squirrels perform parkour-like stunts for peanuts

New high-speed videos show squirrels performing daring, parkour-like stunts — all in pursuit of peanuts. In a new study, published Thursday (Aug. 5) in the journal Science, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley tested the agility of fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) on the university campus. Their goal was to...

Jun 30, 2021

Manatees are dying in record numbers in Florida

A record-breaking number of manatees have died this year in Florida's waters, mostly due to starvation, according to recent news reports. Between Jan. 1 and July 2, 841 manatees died near and off the coast of Florida, according to a preliminary mortality report published by the Florida Fish and Wildlife...

Jun 30, 2021

Pristine DNA recovered from 1,600-year-old sheep mummy

A lone sheep leg, likely discarded by hungry mine workers, lay hidden in a salt mine in Iran for over a thousand years, during which time the salinity of the surrounding environment naturally mummified the limb. Now, scientists have extracted pristine DNA from the mummified leg and dated the sample...

Mar 31, 2021

Arctic walrus that drifted to Ireland is now hitching rides on passing ships

A walrus who accidentally made his way from the Arctic Circle to an Irish beach last month, likely while napping on a drifting iceberg, has continued his antics by clambering onto passing ships and even falling asleep on a slipway intended for lifeboats. As the marine mammal, endearingly named Wally,...

Mar 31, 2021

World's largest rabbit missing, presumed stolen

If you should see someone walking around central England with a 4-foot-long (1.2 meters) rabbit in tow, call the authorities. That rabbit may be Darius — the current record holder for the world's largest rabbit — who went missing from his Worcestershire home last weekend. It is believed the Continental...

Jun 30, 2022

Three people gored by bison in a month at Yellowstone National Park. Why do these attacks happen?

Three people have been gored by bison in a single month at Yellowstone National Park, with the two most recent attacks coming just two days apart. Park officials warned visitors to be respectful of the enormous beasts' personal space, as approaching too close can provoke bison to charge. The most...