Nature News

Bad news for corals and divers.

Bad news for corals and divers.

Posted Tue, 07 Oct 2014 08:30:00 GMT by JW Dowey

It’s worrying, because coral is vital to young fish and many predatory organisms that need its shelter, near the surface and full of prey. Hawaii’s remote nature reserves should be free from many human-induced problems, but El Nino cannot be denied. This loss of coral in the summer could be the beginning of a horrific scene of local extinctions. It must be carefully monitored.

Bad news for corals and divers.

Voyage to/from Ancient New Zealand

Voyage to/from Ancient New Zealand

Posted Tue, 30 Sep 2014 09:15:00 GMT by JW Dowey

The marvels of the Pacific Islands were not discovered by Europeans. The Polynesians made brave and fantastic voyages across giant stretches of water to colonise much of Oceania. They may have been helped by favourable winds before 1300AD but the means of their success were giant canoes, carrying livestock, food and colonists. Here is the germ of their story.

Voyage to/from Ancient New Zealand

Language evolved quickly.

Language evolved quickly.

Posted Thu, 25 Sep 2014 08:17:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Some of the great thinkers have come up with ideas to propagate after-dinner discussion of chat and scribble for eons to come. The whole process took a very short time to evolve, according to this “think-tank for talk.”

Language evolved quickly.

Monkeys redden up for breeding.

Monkeys redden up for breeding.

Posted Wed, 24 Sep 2014 07:54:00 GMT by JW Dowey

Humans don’t have sexual coloured skin, but many primates use their colour to attract mates. The red colour of rhesus monkeys attracts the opposite sex, so perhaps there is hope for redheads yet!

Monkeys redden up for breeding.

Budgies negotiate gaps

Budgies negotiate gaps

Posted Sun, 21 Sep 2014 11:06:39 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Flight in our birds and bats is an interesting process as well as a part of life that we always seem to want to emulate. Avoiding obstacles within a flock, or negotiating forests is an area we need to study for our own needs, even if we simply use it for in-flight entertainment. The serious use of bird mechanisms for various aircraft such as drones is always likely as robotic systems develop.

Budgies negotiate gaps

 It's a peach of a story

It's a peach of a story

Posted Sat, 06 Sep 2014 23:20:00 GMT by JW Dowey

How did the peach become selected from the typical forest tree. Was it developed like many fruits as a recent addition to food habits, or did it become domesticated early, like the goat, the dog and the pig, to provide a rich varied diet for early agriculturalists?

It's a peach of a story

Tool use and manufacture, but by birds

Tool use and manufacture, but by birds

Posted Wed, 03 Sep 2014 10:01:00 GMT by JW Dowey

The mammals and the birds are in competition. How many species will we find that can understand tool-using concepts, and then socially interact with their uses?

Tool use and manufacture, but by birds

Eggs of elephant birds still reign supreme

Eggs of elephant birds still reign supreme

Posted Sat, 30 Aug 2014 12:44:00 GMT by JW Dowey

The sale of the most remarkable egg ever known is about to take place. Your local museum may not be able to attract the visitors it would like for a simple egg, but the imagination runs wild at the ancient world this egg would have hatched into!

Eggs of elephant birds still reign supreme

Jackdaws lose their winning ways

Jackdaws lose their winning ways

Posted Wed, 06 Aug 2014 04:01:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

A lovely species like the Eurasian jackdaw could be expected to have an interesting, eventful and full life among its colleagues, his mate and his nestlings. Not so, I’m afraid, for the high-fliers in society.

Jackdaws lose their winning ways

Diet in mammals is complex

Diet in mammals is complex

Posted Wed, 09 Jul 2014 04:01:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

How could you classify the diets of mammals for so long without noting the need many species have for fruit, certain plants, or even a bit of animal material for a so-called herbivore? Carnivores need roughage in the same way the human diet has special requirements and herbivores can cheat by gaining essential minerals they would be unable to extract from plants.

Diet in mammals is complex

Forest loss accelerates

Forest loss accelerates

Posted Mon, 30 Jun 2014 08:58:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

We need these forests to retain some of the remaining carbon. We need these trees so that biodiversity around them remains. We need these animals to represent something of the old earth, that used to work as an entity. We need to act very very quickly.

Forest loss accelerates

How are butterflies and moths related?

How are butterflies and moths related?

Posted Wed, 25 Jun 2014 07:14:00 GMT by JW Dowey

When science illuminates an area, it's not always easy to see how. In this case we try and show that the brilliant butterfly or moth has a fascinating ancestry and intriguing sets of current relatives. The publication of this paper is great progress, but we doubt if we can fully explain, more than just show the pics and links!

How are butterflies and moths related?

Cats control lizard populations but the reptiles adapt well

Cats control lizard populations but the reptiles adapt well

Posted Wed, 18 Jun 2014 07:59:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Why and how do island species suffer so much from cats, rats and dogs, and the rest of the invasive species? A few hundred years too late, we might finally be getting around to countering the effects of predators on the most vulnerable of animal species. There are also the native predators to consider, of course.

Cats control lizard populations but the reptiles adapt well

Bear with us

Bear with us

Posted Tue, 10 Jun 2014 06:50:28 GMT by JW Dowey

Nature has wonderful problems to solve, but human help is needed when the precarious genetic integrity of our Pyrenean bears is threatened. One bear has built up the population, but now the inbreeding that threatens all small rare species' populations must be reversed.

Bear with us

Gannets prove to be discard specialists

Gannets prove to be discard specialists

Posted Wed, 04 Jun 2014 11:32:00 GMT by Paul Robinson

When fisheries policies change, we have rarely managed to avoid mistakes in estimating the effects. Here we have happy gannets but when fishing discards are prevented, the rocky islands around Ireland and the rest of Europe will be less populous than before.

Gannets prove to be discard specialists

Desert memories and route guidance - for ants

Desert memories and route guidance - for ants

Posted Wed, 28 May 2014 12:08:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

This desert ant is an amazing route finder in extreme conditions. Efforts to discover its 'technique' have so far faltered, but this research shows the ant-centric approach works.

Desert memories and route guidance - for ants

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Bowhead whales rock- all winter long.

Posted Wed, 04 Apr 2018 08:39:22 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Untamed Travel Possibilities for your imagination or your future plans.

Posted Tue, 26 Sep 2017 09:34:49 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Sneeze to leave, and wild dogs vote for a hunt!

Posted Wed, 06 Sep 2017 07:15:00 GMT by JW.Dowey

Sheep hunted before domestication in the Middle East.

Posted Wed, 23 Aug 2017 09:25:00 GMT by JW. Dowey

Stream insects live well in Yorkshire

Posted Fri, 21 Jul 2017 10:55:00 GMT by JW.Dowey

Bees that buzz and those that help the economy!

Posted Fri, 23 Jun 2017 08:15:00 GMT by JW. Dowey

Climate Change drives early laying/hatching, but not only Temperature!

Posted Thu, 27 Apr 2017 07:16:00 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Bees succeed against the odds, even when solitary.

Posted Tue, 18 Apr 2017 08:16:55 GMT by JW. Dowey

Fascination in rocky pools and their invertebrate inhabitants

Posted Thu, 23 Mar 2017 11:25:01 GMT by JW. Dowey

Army ants tolerate multiple evolutions of beetle mimics

Posted Wed, 15 Mar 2017 09:50:00 GMT by JW. Dowey

Cheating, Game theory and Transvestite Mourning Cuttlefish

Posted Thu, 05 Jul 2012 16:34:10 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Penguins smell good - who knew?

Posted Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:34:00 GMT by Dale Kiefer

Fussy killers - Weddell seals on the menu for Orca

Posted Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:59:00 GMT by Martin Leggett

Bad news for bees and us

Posted Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:03:02 GMT by Ruth Hendry

The Grey Whale in the Eastern Pacific

Posted Fri, 11 May 2012 10:51:02 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Interesting frog father behaviour

Posted Tue, 21 Jan 2014 20:22:33 GMT by Dave Armstrong

30 milliseconds the price of life for extraordinary jumping bird

Posted Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:49:00 GMT by Colin Ricketts

Chimp throwbacks

Posted Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:11:47 GMT by Dave Armstrong

Sea lice from farmed salmon infesting wild salmon in British Columbia

Posted Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:49:01 GMT by Lucy Brake

No Leopard like a Snow Leopard

Posted Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:39:50 GMT by Dave Armstrong