Tag: natural history news
Meet Madagascar’s oldest animal lineage, a whirligig beetle with 206-million-year-old origins
There are precious few species today in the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar that scientists can trace directly back to when all of Earth's continents were joined together as part of the primeval supercontinent Pangea.
Courtship behavior trapped in 100-million-year-old amber
Courtship behaviours, frequent among modern insects, have left extremely rare fossil traces. In odonates, the male must persuade the female to mate in tandem and the female should be willing to engage her genitalia with the male's.
Dogs were domesticated not once, but twice … in different parts of the world
The question, 'Where do domestic dogs come from?', has vexed scholars for a very long time. Some argue that humans first domesticated wolves in Europe, while others claim this happened in Central Asia or China.
Researcher explores close prehistoric relationship between human and dog
Anyone who owns a dog is familiar with the “gaze”—that hypnotic, imploring stare that demands reciprocation. It can seem to hold a world of mystery and longing, or just pure bafflement at what makes humans tick.
Dodos might have been quite intelligent, new research finds
New research suggests that the dodo, an extinct bird whose name has entered popular culture as a symbol of stupidity, was actually fairly smart.
Colossal Antarctic ice-shelf collapse followed last ice age
In a new study that provides clues about how Antarctica's nation-sized Ross Ice Shelf might respond to a warming climate, U.S. and Japanese oceanographers have shown that a 100,000-square-mile section of the ice shelf broke apart within 1,500 years during a warming period after the last ice age.