Biology

Fluorescent strips discovered on geckos

The desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei shows a neon green fluorescent side stripe and a ring around the eyes when illuminated by UV light (365...

Lasso climbing method discovered in snakes

They form a kind of lasso and then slide upwards piece by piece: researchers have discovered a previously unknown way of snake movement in...

Baboons grunt with “accent”

Male Guinea baboons in the Nikolo-Koba National Park in Senegal. (Image: Julia Fischer) Similar to how we humans usually adopt the way of speaking...

Condensed knowledge about the “deep south”

The living environment on and around the Antarctic continent is changing. (Image: FrankRamspott / iStock) Icy landscapes, surrounded by a cold sea: What...

Biodiversity collapse in the eastern Mediterranean

Only a few mollusks still belong to the species originally native to the Mediterranean (blue), most of them immigrated from the Red Sea (red)....

On the trail of the secret of mother-of-pearl

Microscopic image of the periodically layered structures of mother-of-pearl. (Image: Igor Zlotnikov) Strength and shimmering beauty: Mother-of-pearl owes its fascinating properties to an astonishingly...

Oyster beds as cleaning aids

Natural oyster beds off the coast of Hong Kong. (Image: Kyle Obermann / TNC) Today, natural oyster beds have become rare in many places...

Bonobos feel obliged

If bonobos are interrupted in their social grooming, they then “faithfully” resume their obligatory behavior. (Image: USO / iStock) Interesting parallels to humans: Bonobos...

What determines the pitch of songbirds?

Many representatives of the passerine birds make themselves loudly heard. (Image: Buchfink, Nataba / iStock) There is chirping, beeping and humming - in very...

Marine microplastics: Gone with the wind

Everywhere it is teeming with the tiny decay products of human plastic waste. (Image: dottedhippo / iStock) It's teeming everywhere - the notorious microplastics...

Introduced algae changes the Wadden Sea

Algae carpet by Vaucheria velutina (left) in the Wadden Sea off Sylt. (Photo: Karsten Reise) The tube alga Vaucheria velutina is the alga of...

When the locusts hop uphill

The Roesel's bite is one of the species that could migrate from deeper habitats into alpine areas in the course of global warming. ...

What do spiders do in weightlessness?

On earth, they weave their filigree wheel nets according to ingenious rules - but to what extent can spinning also succeed in the weightlessness...

Crabs as helpers against overgrowth

Caribbean king crab. (Image: Angelo Spadaro) Coral reefs not only suffer from the increasingly warm, acidic and polluted water of the oceans. The...

On the trail of the antler puzzle

Skull and antlers of a primitive deer. (Image: E.-M. Natzer / SNSB-BSPG) Elaborate symbols of masculinity: deer are known to shed their antlers again...

Europe: nitrate problem bigger than expected

In many places nitrogenous fertilization leads to excess nitrate in the soil. (Image: AdobeStock / Countrypixel) In Europe, significantly more nitrate from over-fertilized soils...

Ticks protect themselves from our pathogens

Ticks are fascinating creatures too! (Image: Matt Pinski) They are notorious among nature lovers: as is well known, ticks can transmit dangerous bacteria to...

How flowering plants conquered the world

In particular, the evolution of the auxin transporter genes made flowering plants what they are. (Image: Yuzhou Zhang / IST) From simple green algae...

Bees fight hornets with manure

Bees apply fecal stains to the hive entrance. (Image: Heather Mattila / Wellesley College) Smelly “barricades” at the entrance: Asian honeybees use collected animal...

Only one native fish species left in the Arno

The sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) immigrated to the Arno. (Image: Senckenberg / Haubrock) Invasive animal species repeatedly find their way into foreign areas and displace...

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