Summaries | Headlines

Fatal Attraction: Elephants And Marula Fruit (February 15, 2007) -- Being female can be a risky business, especially if you are a Marula tree in Africa receiving the attention of elephants. Research published in African Journal of Ecology shows that the female Marula ... > full story

Bats Prey On Nocturnally Migrating Songbirds (February 14, 2007) -- It was until now believed that nocturnally migrating songbirds, while venturing into the unfamiliar night sky for accomplishing their long, challenging transcontinental migrations, could at least ... > full story

Frog Love Song: Complex Calls Attract Females, Predators And Parasites Alike (February 11, 2007) -- Why do predators and parasites eavesdropping on mating signals of their prey preferentially attack individuals producing certain types of call? Predators could use information encoded in calls to ... > full story

Globalization & Great Apes: Illegal Logging Destroying Last Strongholds Of Orangutans In National Parks (February 7, 2007) -- The tropical forests of South East Asia, important for local livelihoods and the last home of the orangutan are disappearing far faster than experts have previously supposed according to a new Rapid ... > full story

Logging May Have Contributed To Decline Of Alaskan Sea Bird (February 7, 2007) -- The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was recently asked by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to evaluate the status of Marbled Murrelets in Alaska and British Columbia. The Marbled Murrelet is ... > full story

Risk Of Extinction Accelerated Due To Interacting Human Threats (February 7, 2007) -- Using experimental microcosm populations of rotifers, a type of zooplankton, the study found that individually each of these threats caused significant population declines. The study also found that ... > full story

Cambodian Vulture Nests Offer Hope For Species (February 6, 2007) -- Working in the remote forests of Cambodia, conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have just discovered Southeast Asia's only known breeding colony of slender-billed vultures, ... > full story

Endangered Shortnose Sturgeon Saved In Hudson River (February 3, 2007) -- For the first time, a fish identified as endangered has been shown to have recovered -- and in the Hudson River near New York City, report Cornell's Mark Bain and colleagues in the online publication ... > full story

Tibetan Antelope Slowly Recovering After Decline From Poaching, Report Says (February 1, 2007) -- Returning from a recent 1,000-mile expedition across Tibet's remote Chang Tang region, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) biologist George Schaller reports that the Tibetan antelope -- once the ... > full story

Restoration Of A Habitat-forming Species Could Nurture The Return Of Many Species (January 31, 2007) -- Coral reefs, kelp forests, marshes and other familiar habitats can harbor a diversity of life by providing shelter from both harsh conditions and predators. New experimental work using cordgrass ... > full story

Student's Research With Disney Giraffes May Help Conserve Several Species (January 30, 2007) -- University of Central Florida doctoral student Jennifer Fewster is studying giraffe poop at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge in Lake Buena Vista in an effort to figure out what the animals eat in the ... > full story

Distinct Bison Herds Roam Yellowstone (January 29, 2007) -- Graduate student Flo Gardipee studies fish and wildlife biology at The University of Montana, but she describes herself as "a professional pooper scooper." That's because she researches the feces of ... > full story

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Hybrid -- In biology, hybrid has two meanings. The first meaning is the result of interbreeding between two animals or plants of different taxa. Hybrids between different species within the same genus are ... > full article

Wildlife gardening -- Wildlife gardening is a school of gardening that is aimed at creating an environment that is attractive to various forms of wildlife such as birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, mammals and so on. A ... > full article

African Wild Dog -- The African Hunting Dog, also called African Wild Dog, is a mammal of the Canidae family, and thus related to the domestic dog. It is the only species in its genus, Lycaon. They are, as their name ... > full article

Bactrian Camel -- The Bactrian camel is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of eastern Asia. The Bactrian camel has two humps on its back, in contrast to the Dromedary which has one. Nearly all of the ... > full article

Carnivore -- A carnivore is an animal that eats a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from live animals or dead ones (scavenging). Some animals are considered carnivores even if their diets contain ... > full article

Black-footed Ferret -- TThe Black-footed Ferret is a small carnivorous North American mammal. The Black-footed Ferret is the most endangered mammal in North America, according to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service ... > full article

Leopard -- Leopards (Panthera pardus) are one of the four 'big cats' of the genus Panthera. They range in size from one to almost two metres long, and weigh between 30 and 70 kg. The leopard is a sexually ... > full article

Bat -- Bats are mammals in the order Chiroptera. Their most distingushing feature is that their forelimbs are developed as wings, making them the only mammal capable of flight.There are estimated to be ... > full article

Tiger -- Tigers are mammals of the Felidae family and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus. They are predatory carnivores and the largest and most powerful of all living cats. Most tigers live in ... > full article

Wild Cat -- The wild cat (Felis silvestris), sometimes "wildcat" or "wild-cat" especially when distinguishing from other wild species of felines, is a small predator native to Europe, the western part of Asia, ... > full article

Whooping Crane -- The Whooping Craneis a very large crane. It is the tallest North American bird. Adults are white; they have a red crown and a long, dark, pointed bill. They have long dark legs which trail behind in ... > full article

Chincoteague Pony -- The Chincoteague Pony is a hardy breed that breed originates on the Atlantic island of Assateague. The breed varies greatly in type and there is no true breed standard. Natural selection and the ... > full article

Wild rice -- The four species of wild rice comprise the genus Zizania, a group of grasses that grow in shallow water in small lakes and slow-flowing ... > full article

Domestication -- Domestication is a phenomenon whereby a wild biological organism is habituated to survive in the company of human beings. Domesticated animals, plants, and other organisms are those whose collective ... > full article

Ecological niche -- In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem. More formally, the niche includes how a population responds to the abundance of its ... > full article

King Cobra -- The king cobra is the longest of the venomous land snakes, growing up to 18 feet (5.5 meters) in length. The snake's venom is a neurotoxin which has been known to kill a human being in 15 ... > full article

Puma -- The Puma (Puma concolor), also known as the Cougar or Mountain Lion, is a large, solitary cat found in the Americas. It has a vast range, from Yukon Territory in Canada to the southern Andes of South ... > full article

Black Rhinoceros -- The Black Rhinoceros is a mammal of the Perissodactyla order which lives in the eastern areas of Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The black rhinoceros ... > full article

Ball python -- The Ball Python, also known as the Royal Python, is a ground dwelling snake native to the savannahs and rain forests in western Africa. Its name derives from its tendency to curl into a tight "ball" ... > full article

Turkey (bird) -- A turkey is either of two species of large birds in the genus Meleagris. Turkeys are birds classed in the gamebird order with fan-shaped tails and wattled necks. The modern domesticated turkey was ... > full article