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All tagged evolution
It has long been thought that cats began to bond with humans around 10,000 years ago and that our love affair with felines arose in the same part of the world, the Levant. New research is upending both of those notions.
Raccoons love to live near humans, especially in urban environments where there happens to be lots of food (trash). Researchers from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock have observed subtle anatomical changes in these little trash pandas that suggest they are becoming domesticated by spending so much time around us.
In mammalian social groups males tend to dominate, but among one of our closest relatives – the bonobo – it’s females who have the upper hand. Primatologists believe the ladies get and maintain power with a simple tactic: they work together.
A group of chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau’s Cantanhez National Park was seen recently sharing a huge piece of fruit containing alcohol. Their little party was being monitored by a research team from the University of Exeter.
Because the spider called daddy longlegs has a particularly salient trait – namely its long legs – biologists never really considered the creature’s eyes, which were assumed to be a standard-issue pair situated at the top of the head. Now researchers have discovered two more sets of peepers, vestigial and useless, on the side.
Another year, another headline along the lines of “The T. Rex may have been a lot smarter than you thought.” That one appears in the Washington Post this week, for an article written by the aptly named Dino Grandoni.
