California Academy of Sciences becomes first aquarium in US to breed dwarf cuttlefish Anchored to an algae-covered rock in a 120-gallon tank at the California Academy of Sciences' Steinhart Aquarium, a cluster of inky-colored cuttlefish eggs is beginning to swell-evidence of success for the Academy's new captive breeding program for dwarf cuttlefish, Sepia bandensis. view more (2009-11-13)
Being a standout has its benefits, study shows Standing out in a crowd is better than blending in, at least if you're a paper wasp in a colony where fights between nest-mates determine social status. view more (2009-10-16)
Climate-related changes on the Antarctic peninsula Scientists have long established that the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming spots on Earth. view more (2009-03-17)
Penguins marching into trouble A quarter-century of data reveals how changing weather patterns and land use, combined with overfishing and pollution, are taking a heavy toll on penguin numbers view more (2009-02-13)
Emperor Penguins March toward Extinction? Popularized by the 2005 movie "March of the Penguins," emperor penguins could be headed toward extinction in at least part of their range before the end of the century, according to a paper by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers published January 26, 2009, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the... view more... (2009-01-27)
Penguins setting off sirens over health of world's oceans Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, penguins are sounding the alarm for potentially catastrophic changes in the world's oceans, and the culprit isn't only climate change, says a University of Washington conservation biologist. view more (2008-07-01)
Human influences challenge penguin populations The ecology of penguins makes these iconic swimming and diving seabirds of the Southern Hemisphere unusually susceptible to environmental changes. view more (2008-07-01)
Passports for penguins Ground-breaking technology that will enable biologists to identify and monitor large numbers of endangered animals, from butterflies to whales, without being captured, will be shown to the public for the first time at this year's Royal Society Summer Science exhibition [30 June to 3 July]. view more (2008-06-30)
Tuatara, the fastest evolving animal In a study of New Zealand's "living dinosaur" the tuatara, evolutionary biologist, and ancient DNA expert, Professor David Lambert and his team from the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution recovered DNA sequences from the bones of ancient tuatara, which are up to 8000 years old. view more (2008-03-24)
Satellite tracking will help answer questions about penguin travels University of Washington scientists will attach satellite tracking devices to the backs of six penguins that have been treated at two centers in northern Argentina after their feathers were fouled with oil. The birds will be released into the Atlantic Ocean and their movements traced using satellites and the Internet. view more (2007-08-07)
March of the giant penguins Giant prehistoric penguins? In Peru? It sounds more like something out of Hollywood than science, but a researcher from North Carolina State University along with U.S., Peruvian and Argentine collaborators has shown that two heretofore undiscovered penguin species reached equatorial regions tens of millions of years earlier than expected and... view more... (2007-06-26)
Stray penguins probably reached northern waters by fishing boat Guy Demmert got quite a surprise when he hauled a fishing net into his boat off the coast of southeast Alaska in July 2002. There among the salmon, in living black and white, was a Humboldt penguin, thousands of miles from where any of its kind should have been. view more (2007-06-06)
Want to monitor climate change? P-p-p-pick up a penguin! We are used to hearing about the effects of climate change in terms of unusual animal behaviour, such as altering patterns of fish and bird migration. view more (2007-04-04)
Huddling and a drop in metabolism allow penguins to survive the South Pole cold March of the Penguins, the Oscar® winning documentary, showed how the emperor penguins endure their incubation and fast for four dark and bitterly cold months each year. The tight huddling among these South Pole penguins is a key energy-saving mechanism that allows them to endure their extremely harsh conditions. view more (2007-02-01)
Global warming capable of sparking mass species extinctions The Earth could see massive waves of species extinctions around the world if global warming continues unabated, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Conservation Biology. view more (2006-04-12)
Parachuting allows krill to eat and run Antarctic researchers have recorded a novel behavior in krill that may help regulate greenhouse gases. Antarctic krill, one of the largest animal resources on Earth, parachute into the deeper layers of the ocean many times a night and sequester large amounts carbon in the process. view more (2006-02-07)
Antarctic krill provide carbon sink in Southern Ocean New research on Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a shrimp-like animal at the heart of the Southern Ocean food chain, reveals behaviour that shows that they absorb and transfer more carbon from the Earth's surface than was previously understood. view more (2006-02-07)
Chronic oil pollution takes toll on seabirds along South American coast Chronic oil pollution has been a long-standing problem along a 4,200-mile stretch of coast from southern Brazil to northern Argentina. view more (2006-02-01)
Penguins waddle but they don't fall down, UH researchers say With their feathery tuxedoes and charming Chilly Willy-waddle, penguins are the quintessence of cute. Small wonder they're featured in Coke commercials, movies like "Madagascar" and "March of the Penguins" and children's toys galore. view more (2006-01-16)
El Nino events affect whale breeding A thirty-year study by an international team of scientists found a strong relationship between breeding success of whales in the South Atlantic and El Nino in the western Pacific. view more (2006-01-11)
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