Extinction may not be forever. With recent technological advances, it may eventually be possible to bring species back from the dead. Within our lifetime, we could see woolly mammoths roaming the Arctic tundra. Last week, a team of scientists made headlines for sequencing complete genomes from two woolly mammoths, representing a significant breakthrough for efforts…

At some point in your life, chances are you’ve stood outside on a warm summer night and listened to the sounds produced by a natural symphony of sorts. The countless crickets singing in a nearby field or garden create a cacophony of chirps, a wonderful and familiar sound that to some is no less beautiful…

If you’re anything like me, you probably check your Facebook account at least five times a day. It’s something pretty much all of us do, but have you ever wondered why we feel the need to check up on our friends, or why we want to comment on their statuses or “like” their pictures? It’s…

Unlike humans, many animals have (UV) vision, but what exactly does that mean? You can think of UV vision as the “opposite” of color blindness.  For example, people suffering from red-green color blindness cannot distinguish red and green colors. Photos: Colblindor (www.color-blindness.com)

Imagine that you are a female gelada monkey, living in a large group of females under the protection of one alpha male. On one particular lackluster day in between your usual routine of naps, walks, grooming sessions, and meals of grass and grubs, an unfamiliar male arrives. He is intriguing, he is fascinating, he is……

Personality in dogs is no surprise to dog owners. But what about other animals? It turns out that animal personality is not rare. The existence of personality in animal populations matters for a contemporary and ever-increasing phenomenon…

Field studies of animals involve observing and documenting their behaviors. However, many animals are a challenge to study because they are secretive or because they live in environments too dangerous or inhospitable for humans. Over the last ten years many scientists have increasingly turned to devices called…

When it’s cold and snowy during the winter, many of us respond by staying inside and hiding underneath a pile of blankets. But how do animals cope with the cold? It turns out that…

Humans are not the only animals that are able to organize themselves into coordinated groups or societies. Some animals exhibit incredible feats of coordination, but unlike us, they do so without a leader or a global view of the outcome, like a set of blue-prints. We may all be familiar with the hypnotic movement of…