For decades, ecologists assumed giraffes had no real social structure to speak of. One excerpt from a 1991 book described the craning mammals as “socially aloof, forming no lasting bonds with its fellows and associating in the most casual way.” But starting around the turn of the century, and especially in the last decade, animal
There’s just a 1 in 3,700,000 chance a person will be killed by a shark in their lifetime, but the fear is still enough to have swimmers worrying about being perceived as prey. Now, new research supports the long-standing theory that when great whites do go in for a bite, it’s a case of “mistaken
What do you think something called a hell heron might look like? Herons living today are necky, leggy birds with needle-sharp beaks. You might imagine an infernal version of this creature could also have horns or breathe fire. But in truth, it was a dinosaur with crocodile teeth. At least that’s what scientists have determined
What’s the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you’ll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopSci’s hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Apple, Anchor, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday morning. It’s your new favorite source for the strangest science-adjacent facts, figures, and Wikipedia spirals
Simon Millar was leading his team of marine tour guides in a training exercise off the coast of Bermagui in New South Wales, Australia, when they spotted a commotion of splashing, churning water. They quickly realized what they were witnessing was an enormous “megapod” of humpback whales. Millar and his crew watched the whales circle
Oftentimes, the most astounding scientific discoveries are made entirely by accident. It was 3 am one sunshine-filled night in February of 2021, and marine biologist Lilian Boehringer of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany was keeping vigil in the camera room aboard the research vessel Polarstern, watching live images of the Antarctic seafloor roll fire
Kristine Grayson is an associate professor of biology at the University of Richmond. This story was originally featured on The Conversation. The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is a deceptively attractive metallic-green adult beetle with a red abdomen. But few people ever actually see the insect itself – just the trail of destruction it leaves behind under
Excerpted from The Social Lives of Animals by Ashley Ward. Copyright © 2022. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The leopard seal and a whole host of other large marine predators are drawn to the Southern Ocean to hunt. Whether directly or indirectly, what supports these animals is krill, small but superabundant
Bald and golden eagles across North America are in danger from lead poisoning, a new analysis suggests. Researchers tracked levels of the deadly metal in more than 1,000 eagles from 38 US states, and found that “unexpectedly high” proportions of birds from the two species suffered from both chronic and recent poisoning. Almost half of
When humans listen to music, we hear a beat. It’s so self-evident, and so foundational to our lives, that it’s hard to imagine how rare that experience is in the animal kingdom. Because here’s the thing: a beat isn’t necessarily a tangible part of music, but a property of human experience, says Andrea Ravignani, who
