News by Subject Biology

Researchers examined the outcome of an entangled bottlenose dolphin calf with monofilament fishing line wrapped tightly around its upper jaw. It was successfully disentangled and immediately released it back into its natural habitat. Surviving only two years, results showed long-term severe damage due to this entanglement including emaciation. There are about 1,000 bottlenose dolphins that live in the Indian River Lagoon, which also is a very popular location for recreational fishing.

Clean-up devices that collect waste from the ocean surface won't solve the plastic pollution problem, a new study shows.

Like humans, cattle are social creatures with complex relationships that change as group dynamics evolve. New research into social grooming interactions between a small herd of dairy cows illustrated patterns of behavior that could be used to better align future farm management practices with the social needs of bovines. Previous research has demonstrated that happier cows are healthier and more productive.

Older male rhesus monkeys sire fewer offspring, even though they appear to be mating as much as younger monkeys with similarly high social status. Sperm quality or quantity, or the survival of infants, may decline with the age of the would-be father, the new study suggests. A new study from Washington University in St. Louis has implications for understanding some age-related aspects of male reproductive health in primates, including humans.

Some prey species can escape from inside a predator after a successful attack. Kobe University ecologist Sugiura Shinji has found that the aquatic beetle Regimbartia attenuata can actively escape from the vent of the frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus via the digestive system. This is the first time that research has documented the active escape of prey from the body of a predator after being eaten.

Dog brains, just as human brains, process speech hierarchically: intonations at lower, word meanings at higher stages, according to a new study by Hungarian researchers. The study reveals exciting speech processing similarities between us and a speechless species.

Inbred birds don't live as long and have fewer offspring. Inbreeding is equally harmful regardless of where the birds live.

A team of researchers, led by Simon Brandl and Jacob Johansen, recently studied cryptobenthic reef fishes in the Arabian Gulf and the Sea of Oman and found that the more thermally extreme coral reef habitat in the Arabian Gulf adversely impacted the diversity and productivity of these important fishes.