Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2011

Giant Rat Kills Predators with Poisonous Hair

By utilizing the same plants that African tribesmen use to poison their arrows, the furry fury known as the African crested rat can incapacitate and even kill predators many times its size, researchers have found. This is the first mammal that is borrowing a deadly poison from a plant and...

Jul 31, 2011

In Vitro Fertilization May Help Older Cheetahs Reproduce

Good news for the dwindling cheetah population; despite aging, the eggs of cheetahs older than 8 years appear to remain in good condition, scientists have found. Those of us who work with cheetahs have anecdotally noted that it's hard to reproduce older cheetahs, but this is the first time anyone...

Jul 31, 2011

Tasmanian Tigers Wrongly Convicted of Killing Sheep

The now-extinct Tasmanian tiger was hunted out of existence in the early 1900s for killing Australian farmers' sheep. But a new study finds that the tiger was framed. In fact, the animals' jaws were so weak that they likely couldn't have hunted anything larger than a possum. The Tasmanian tiger,...

Jun 30, 2011

Chimpanzees Dogged By Image Problem

Chimpanzees have an image problem. The portrayal of these great apes in commercials, movies and greeting cards may lead people to perceive them as appealing potential pets and overlook their endangered status, a new study indicates. A survey of 1,203 people showed that specific features of an image — in...

Jun 30, 2011

'Dog Attacks Shark' Video Explained

In a new YouTube video that has gone viral, a dog is seen diving into water off the coast of Australia in pursuit of (and possibly biting) a lurking shark. In another video uploaded in 2006 that has since racked up over 27 million views, a dog jumps off a...

May 31, 2011

How One Expert Creates Beard of Bees (Very Carefully!)

This Research in Action article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Among the many unique talents of Marla Spivak — a MacArthur Foundation Fellow at the University of Minnesota and an NSF-funded bee researcher — is her ability to safely create bee beards. Here she...

May 31, 2011

Happiness a Key to Long Life for Humans and Orangutans

Just like humans, happier orangutans live longer, scientists find. These findings might shed light on the evolution of happiness in humans. Past research suggested that happy people live longer. To see if this also held true in our ape relatives, scientists asked zookeepers starting seven years ago to rate the...

Apr 30, 2011

Great Gorilla! Zoo Atlanta Welcomes Newborn Primate

There's a new princess at Zoo Atlanta. Kudzoo, a western lowland gorilla , gave birth to a baby girl on May 9. Kudzoo and her offspring are Zoo Atlanta royalty she was the first-born offspring of world-famous gorilla Willie B. The newborn is the third grandchild of the iconic silverback,...

Feb 28, 2011

Oh My! This Monkey Acts Like a Cow

The first monkey that acts like a cow has been discovered — one that regurgitates to give its food another chew, just as cattle do. Cows, goats, sheep and other ruminants chew plants, let their meals soften in their stomachs, and then throw up the larger bits into their mouths...

Dec 31, 2010

Image Gallery: Evolution's Most Extreme Mammals

Violent musk-ox (Image credit: © AMNH/R. Mickens)Bootherium bombifrons, an extinct musk-ox which lived 780,000–11,000 years ago, was one of at least four such species found in North America during the Pleistocene; only one still lives today. Both male and female musk-oxen have four-inch-thick horns, and the battles between males during...

Nov 30, 2012

Elephant Relocation Scheme Fails to Prevent Deaths

An attempt to save the lives of both elephants and people by moving the pachyderms away from humans has failed in Sri Lanka, a new study finds. Instead of the relocated elephants living peacefully in their new homes, they wandered, researchers found. Relocated elephants died more often than problem elephants...

Sep 30, 2012

It Pays to Be a Nice Baboon

Like humans, baboons with good friends often enjoy better health and longer lives. Now research suggests the strength of a baboon's social circle depends less on its rank than its personality — and being nice pays off. These results have allowed us to, for the first time in a wild...

Sep 30, 2012

'Supermice' Invade Europe with Mighty Sperm

The male chromosome of an Eastern European house mouse has infiltrated Western Europe, creating a hybrid strain of supermice with extra-high sperm counts. Normally, hybridization, when two subspecies mate to produce offspring, results in decreased sperm strength in the offspring. But when the western mouse Mus musculus domesticus picks up...

Aug 31, 2012

Panda Plays Peak-a-Boo During Checkup

The San Diego Zoo's panda cub is starting to open his eyes, to adorable effect. During an exam on Wednesday morning, animal care staff could see the cub's eyes beginning to open, the zoo said in a release. The development is right on track for the 45-day old male cub....

Aug 31, 2012

Retrovirus Has Long Plagued Koalas, Study Finds

Many koalas get a retrovirus, known as KoRV, that brings on an AIDS-like immune deficiency, making them susceptible to diseases, such as leukemia. New research shows that this virus has been a problem for koalas for longer than previously thought. Scientists looked at DNA from 28 koala skins from European...