Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 30, 2012

Why Dogs' Origins Are Still Mysterious

Humans' close relationship to dogs has so far obscured their history so much that it's not yet possible to use genetic data to tease out the details of their domestication, new research indicates. Their complicated history involves being interbred, as well as transported around the world. There's a central irony...

Feb 29, 2012

Camera Traps Spot Mother Tiger and Cubs in India

A few weeks after conservationists spotted tigers crossing a river in northern India firsthand, a field team has collected camera-trap photo evidence of the area being used by 13 tigers, including a mother and her cubs. Having this information will help officials and conservationists learn how to better protect the...

Jan 31, 2012

Groundhog Day: Phil's Myth Stretches Back Centuries

On Thursday, a roly-poly rodent named Punxsutawney Phil will be hoisted from his burrow in front of TV cameras and cheering crowds and be called upon to predict the weather. If this famous groundhog casts a shadow, legend has it that winter is here to stay for six more weeks....

Jan 31, 2012

Pocket Pets: Early Explorers Brought Guinea Pigs to Europe

It may seem a prestigious post for a rodent, but the guinea pigs that are fixtures in elementary school classrooms today were once ambassadors from a new land. The third-ever guinea pig skeleton found in a European archaeological dig confirms that these little squeakers voyaged to the Old World very...

Nov 30, 2013

Ridiculously Cute Photos of Mother Cats and Kittens

Ridiculously adorable (Image credit: Veronica Burns)New research shows that British and American cat owners harbor some pretty serious misconceptions about the reproductive habits of their feline companions. A study of British cat owners, for example, found that 84 percent of the 715 people surveyed thought cats can't get pregnant before...

Oct 31, 2013

Pronghorn Adapt to New Animal Overpasses

Each fall, thousands of pronghorn make an impressive migration southward across Wyoming, traveling 93 miles (150 km) to get to their wintering grounds in the Upper Green River Basin. The most dangerous part of this journey may not be predators or a lack of resources, but an all-too-familiar obstacle: traffic....

Sep 30, 2013

Humans and Rats Think Alike After Making Mistakes

When it comes to learning from mistakes, humans and rats think alike, research suggests. In a study that tracked how humans and their rodent cousins adapted to errors during a time estimation task, the two species showed similar brain activity in the medial frontal cortex (MFC), which sends signals that...

Aug 31, 2013

Dogs Become New Treatment for a War that Never Ends (Op-Ed)

Vanessa Woods is a research scientist at Duke University and the co-founder of Dognition, a website that helps owners find the genius in their dogs. She is also the co-author of the New York Times Bestseller The Genius of Dogs. She contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed &...

Aug 31, 2013

Dogs to Prairie Dogs, Animals Need Rescue from Disaster (Op-Ed)

Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This Op-Ed is adapted from a post on the blog A Humane Nation, where the content ran before appearing in LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The HSUS responds to natural disasters...

Jul 31, 2013

Step-by-Step Progress Protecting Tennessee Walking Horses (Op-Ed)

Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This Op-Ed first appeared on the blog A Humane Nation, where it ran before appearing in LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The HSUS is making steady progress in its campaign to...

Jul 31, 2013

Abused Puppies Get More Sympathy Than Adult Crime Victims

People have more empathy for abused puppies and dogs than they do for adult humans who have been abused, a new study suggests. However, empathy for abused children was about the same as that for puppies and dogs, the study found. Researchers surveyed 240 college students and asked them to...

Jun 30, 2013

Climate Change Could Wipe Out Iberian Lynx

Climate change could ensure the wipe out of the Iberian Lynx, considered the world's most endangered cat, new research from Spain suggests. Currently, about 300 of these adorable, pointy-eared, shaggy-bearded cats live in Spain and Portugal, dining mostly on rabbits. But according to a study publishing today (July 21) in...

Apr 30, 2013

Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate Like Bears

The western fat-tailed dwarf lemur was the only primate thought to be a hibernator. Now scientists have discovered that two other lemurs in Madagascar can put their lives on pause, too, by entering seven-month snoozefests. To the casual observer, it looks for all the world as if the animals are...

Apr 30, 2013

Dogs Show IQ Tests Aren't So Smart (Op-Ed)

Vanessa Woods is a research scientist and Brian Hare is an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. They are the authors of The Genius of Dogs and the founders of Dognition. They contributed this article to LiveScience’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. When Harvard graduate and Heritage Foundation...

Mar 31, 2013

Bears' Comeback in Nevada Poses a Problem

Thirty years ago, bears were a rare sight in Nevada — so rare that Glen Griffith, then-director of the state's Department of Fish and Game, declared in 1979 that Nevada didn't have any bears at all, except for the occasional one that ambled across the western border from California. But...