The vast Ica desert in Peru, a remote and difficult-to-access region, captured the scientific world’s attention in 2023 thanks to a colossal discovery: the first remains of Perucetus colossus, an ancient cetacean that lived approximately 40 million years ago and has been classified as the heaviest animal ever to have existed on Earth. Now, a […]
Animals
“Brittle Stars” Help Identify a New Climatic Period in Earth’s History, Lasting from 50 to 450 AD
A group of researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Pisa has identified a new climatic period on our planet, named the Ophiuroid Optimum, which spanned from 50 to 450 A.D. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, was conducted in collaboration with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the […]
Queen ants eat their infected offspring to contain the spread of disease
In a surprising twist from the natural world, queen ants are taking extreme measures to protect their colonies from disease by eating their own infected offspring. According to a new study led by Oxford University and published in Current Biology, instead of caring for sick larvae, queen ants devour their infected young at the first […]
Bothie, the Only and Last Dog to Have Set Foot on Both Poles of the Earth
The 1983 Pet of the Year award in Great Britain went to a dog that entered the Guinness Book of World Records, whose popularity led to the commercialization of stuffed animals, posters, and toys featuring his image, and who became the subject of a story about the great adventure that earned him all those honors: […]
The Tribute of the Three Cows, the oldest treaty still in force in Europe, may have started as a sanction for supporting the invasion of the Cimbri in 125 BC
For six and a half centuries, a peculiar ceremony has been held every July 13 at the Ernaz pass and the San Martín stone, a mountain pass in the Pyrenees that serves as a border point between the Foral Community of Navarra (Spain) and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department (France). The event consists of the delivery of […]
Terror Birds, the Superpredators of Prehistoric South America
In the vast plains of ancient South America, millions of years ago, a menacing shadow loomed over the grasslands. It wasn’t a dinosaur or a mammalian predator, but a colossal bird that dominated the food chain. These creatures, scientifically known as Phorusrhacidae (terror birds), were one of the most formidable groups of predators to have […]
A Tiny Creature Discovered in a California Lake is the Closest Living Relative of All Animals
Mono Lake, nestled in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada, is famous for its towering tufa formations, brine shrimp, and dense clouds of alkali flies that have uniquely adapted to its salty waters, which also contain traces of arsenic and cyanide. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have now discovered another unusual inhabitant of the lake: […]
Humpback Whales Found to Create and Handle Tools
A study published in Royal Society Open Science has shed new light on the remarkable behavior of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi’s Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP) and the Alaska Whale Foundation (AWF) have uncovered evidence that these majestic marine mammals not only use tools but also create and manipulate […]
The dodo was neither slow nor fat, it was a giant, strong and fast land pigeon
The dodo bird, often depicted as a slow, chubby creature doomed to extinction, has long been misunderstood. However, new research published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society challenges these misconceptions, revealing the dodo as a giant, ground-dwelling pigeon that was both strong and fast. This study, conducted by researchers from the University of […]
New Fossil Discovery Reveals the Ancestry of Mollusks as Armored Spiny Slugs
Researchers from the University of Oxford have unearthed a fossil that reshapes our understanding of the early evolution of mollusks. This remarkable find, a new species named Shishania aculeata, dates back 500 million years and provides insights into the origins of one of the most diverse and widespread groups of animals on the planet. The […]