News by Subject Biology

Humans have been capturing wild Asian elephants for more than 3,000 years, and this still continues today despite the fact that the populations are declining. An international team of researchers has now analysed records of timber elephants in Myanmar to understand the effects of capture. The study shows that even years after their capture, wild-caught elephants' mortality rate remains increased, and their average life expectancy is several years shorter compared to captive-born animals.

The anemonefish is more familiarly known as the clownfish, as its bright coloration reminds of the face painting of a clown. The striking and unique coloration consists of white stripes on an orange background, but its biological function has remained a mystery thus far. Now, a study by the researchers of the University of Turku and the University of Western Australia has revealed new information on the coloration of the fish.

Individuality exists in all animals, and a number of factors shape it over time. For mice, one of those factors is the social environment, as researchers at CNRS, INSERM and Sorbonne Université have just shown. In this species, some stable character traits may even be inscribed in an individual's neuron activity and change when the group's composition changes. These results are published on Aug. 6, 2018, in Nature Communications.

For a reddish-beaked bird called the zebra finch, sexiness is color-coded. Males have beaks that range from light orange to dark red. But to females, a male's colored bill may simply be hot, or not, findings suggest. Due to a phenomenon called categorical perception, zebra finches partition the range of hues from red to orange into two discrete categories, much like humans do, researchers report in the journal Nature.

The diamond dove may preferentially select large, stiff materials for takeoff and landing sites, according to a study published on July 25 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. The unexpected findings, reported by Kristen Crandell of the University of Montana and colleagues, suggest that the diamond dove does not adjust its takeoff or landing behavior depending on the flexibility of the perch.