Rise of dinosaurs in Late Triassic more gradual than once thought
...s their discovery of the leg bones (femurs) of the carnivorous Chindesaurus bryansmalli (SHIN dee SOAR us) and a close relative of the carnivorous Coelophysis (SEE low FIE sis), a well-known Triassic dinosaur. Both walked on two legs, reminiscent ...Glimmer of hope for Tahitian tree snails' survival
...nct in the wild, following the introduction of the carnivorous rosy wolf snail, he said. The predatory intruder was meant to control yet another snail, the giant African land snail, which was presumably brought to the island as a potential food source. It instead became something of an agricultural pest, and the...Ice Age extinction claimed highly carnivorous Alaskan wolves
...ed team of scientists has added one more: a highly carnivorous form of wolf that lived in Alaska, north of the ice sheets. Wolves were generally thought to have survived the end-Pleistocene extinction relatively unscathed. But this previously unrecognized type of wolf appears to have vanished without a trace ...University of Colorado invention may allow thirsty crops to signal farmers
...sical film, "Little Shop of Horrors," when a giant carnivorous plant tells humans to "feed me." "This technology allows plants to say, 'water me,' " he said. High eastern plains water-use has led to lawsuits against Colorado for violations of interstate water compacts, including a recent $30 million payment...Fused nasal bones helped tyrannosaurids dismember prey
...owerful bites that could splinter bone. With other carnivorous dinosaurs, says Snively, their skull bones might s... T. rex had even more skull strength than a larger carnivorous creature, such as the Carcharadontosaurus saharicus, with a head nearly one and a half times as long...Mosquito genes explain response to climate change
...osquito Wyeomyia smithii, which develop within the carnivorous leaves of pitcher plants, appears online ahead of publication in the May issue of the journal Genetics. The UO researchers identified regions on three chromosomes that respond to length of day, which scientists call photoperiodism. Two of the chromo...Bats prey on nocturnally migrating songbirds
...but also within the whole animal kingdom. Although carnivorous bats feeding on small-sized vertebrates are not rare, they all live in the Tropics and collect their prey from substrates. The few species of falcons which capture migratory birds along the Mediterranean and African coasts are exclusively diurnal. Fi...Predicting species abundance in the face of habitat loss
...n overcame such technical limitations by using the carnivorous pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) and its associated food web as a model for studying what regulates abundance in shrinking habitats. Every year, the pitcher plant, found in bogs and swamps throughout southern Canada and the eastern United States, ...Animal physiology conference sheds light on human physiology
... Generally, they consume twice as many calories as carnivorous land animals of similar size. Killer whales, for example, consume 200,000 calories per day. Information about bioenergetics can be used to preserve these species, for example by creating marine reserves where human hunting and fishing is limited. Wi...Velvet worm brains reveal secret sisterhood with spiders
.... The small, sometimes brightly colored, worm-like carnivorous creatures have lobed appendages and live in leaf litter in tropical areas. "They are very difficult to approach with a pair of forceps because they squirt out this gluey substance that bungs up one's dissection tools. In the wild they use it to imm...Recent, rapid climate change is driving evolution of animal species
...an mosquitoes living in the water-filled leaves of carnivorous plants are using shorter, more "southern" day lengths to cue the initiation of larval dormancy. In contrast, the authors write that no studies have found genetic changes in populations relating to the generally expected direct effects of increasing t...Sensational find: The mini-dinosaurs from the Harz Mountains
...es and tortoises. Even the footprints of dangerous carnivorous dinosaurs were found on the steep sides of the quarry. The excavation site is thus one of the few places worldwide in which the bones and the footprints of dinosaurs occur together a veritable 'Jurassic Harz' which would have been Steven Spielberg's...Gigantic meat-eating dinosaur discovered
...logists will unveil what may be one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs known. The new species, Mapusaurus roseae, is named and identified in Geodiversitas by Professor Rodolfo Coria of the Museo Carmen Funes in Plaza Huincul, Argentina and Dr. Philip Currie of the University of Alberta, Canada. "Over the last...UF study: World shark attacks dipped in 2005, part of long-term trend
...ecline in populations caused by overfishing of the carnivorous creature, which generally is slow to reproduce, Burgess said. "It appears that humans are doing a better job of avoiding being bitten, and on the rare occasion where they actually meet up with a shark, are doing the right thing to save their lives," ...'Fish with chips' reporting from ocean top highlights at Census of Marine Life mid-point
...ring small particles from thewater) Three of four carnivorous sponge species foundin the Southern Ocean abyss had never been seenbefore. Sponges with calcium skeletons living muchdeeper than expected also created surprise. Alsofound: minute unicellular animals (calledxenophyophore) using sediment grains to co...Newly discovered birdlike dinosaur is oldest raptor ever found in South America
...tagonia demonstrates that dromaeosaurs, a group of carnivorous theropods that includes Velociraptor and is closel...of this area, known as La Buitrera, includes other carnivorous dinosaurs, such as mid-sized abelisaurs and the gigantic Giganotosaurus. However, the most common an...Cats' indifference towards sugar explained
...ains the molecular mechanism behind their strictly carnivorous behavior. "We took a behavioral question and answ...lity to taste sweet things? Which came first, the carnivorous behavior or the inability to taste sweets?" Brand adds, "I say jokingly, no wonder cats are cranky...Defective sweet taste receptor gene shapes cat cuisine
...molecular change had on the evolution of the cat's carnivorous behavior." "What we still don't know is - which came first: carnivorous behavior or the loss of the T1R2 protein? With regard to the gene, is this a case of use it or lose...Revueltosaurus skeleton unearthed at Petrified Forest upsets dinosaur tale
... long-necked browsers like Brachiosaurus - and the carnivorous theropods, like T. rex. Only the theropods survive to the present as birds. If, as the team concludes, the first ornithischians outside South America did not appear until 25 million years later than people thought, the picture of dinosaur evolution r...500 million years of errors: Brachiopod shells record shadow of arms race in ancient oceans
...ns, with drilling predators being just one of many carnivorous guilds that feed on shellfish. "As predators becam...e among many drilling predators and other types of carnivorous seafood lovers. "Most interesting, perhaps, is this evolutionary persistence of incidental interacti...