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Stories from Elizabeth Gamillo

The dogs moved off a mat that had a toy attached to it, showing that dogs may understand their body size and where they are in the environment when solving a task.

Dogs May Be More Self-Aware Than Experts Thought

In a new study, canines recognized how their bodies took up space and moved to complete a task

The yellow colored king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus was spotted after photographer Yves Adams suddenly saw penguins swimming towards the shore.

Rare Yellow Penguin Photographed for the First Time

The Antarctic bird has leucism, meaning its feathers do not contain melanin needed to produce black pigment

When conditions are right, Horsetail Falls transforms and emits an enchanting ember glow reminiscent of lava or falling fire.

Yosemite’s ‘Firefall’ Natural Wonder Illuminates El Capitan Through the End of February

Under the right conditions, viewers will have a short window of 10 minutes each evening to experience the glowing falls

By Monday evening, nearly 2,000 cold-stunned turtles were rescued from the Lower Laguna Madre Lagoon along the Texas Coast, where endangered green sea turtles call home.

Volunteers Scramble to Save Thousands of Sea Turtles Following Polar Vortex in Texas

As of last Wednesday, at least 3,500 sea turtles have been rescued from freezing waters in the midst record-breaking winter storm

The orbits of the Extreme Trans-Neptunian Objects (ETNOs) were tilted and elongated towards the sun, leading researchers to suspect the ETNOs were bunched together because of Planet Nine's gravitational pull.

New Study Knocks Theory of Planet Nine’s Existence Out of Orbit

It was previously thought the object’s gravitational pull was responsible for the strange orbits of six dwarf planets that whiz beyond Neptune

Two wood-feeding cockroaches (Salganea taiwanensis). The one on the left is missing it's wings after the mutual wing-eating behavior. The one on the right has it's wings intact.

These Cockroaches Mate for Life. Their Secret? Mutual Sexual Cannibalism

Both males and females will munch on each other’s wings after sex, a behavior that may encourage lifelong partnership

Most cat foods contain high-quality proteins but are often plant-based and may drive cats to hunt to get the micronutrients they are missing from their cat food.

To Protect Local Wildlife, Feed Your Cat Meatier Meals

Well-fed felines brought 36 percent fewer kills back home—if allowed outside

Sea whip coral can come in a variety of colors, from vivid reds and oranges, yellows to rich violets and can grow up to three feet long.

Tangled ‘Cord’ Mistaken for Litter Is Actually a Sea Creature

Along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, beachgoers mistake sea whip coral for discarded junk

Podokesaurus holyokensis, lived during the Mid-Jurassic period, 195-180 million years ago, in what is now Massachusetts and could sprint up to 9 to 12 MPH.

Meet Massachusetts’ Official State Dinosaur

The ‘swift-footed lizard’ won 60 percent of 35,000 total online votes

Chien-Shiung Wu received numerous awards and honors throughout her life, including having an asteroid named after her in 1973 and receiving the National Medal of Science in 1975.

U.S. Postage Stamp Will Honor the ‘First Lady of Physics’

Chien-Shiung Wu’s experiment in 1956 helped her colleagues win the Nobel Prize while her role was only mentioned in the acceptance speech

Scientists suspect that the wombat evolved this unique trait to mark its territory on rocks and logs with poop that won’t easily roll off

Wombats Poop Cubes, and Scientists Finally Got to the Bottom of It

The marsupial’s unique digestive tract forms square dung

The black sea cucumber Holothuria atra is found in shallow waters along reefs and uses sand to coat itself for camouflage and protection from the sun.

Sea Cucumber Poop Could Revitalize Coral Reefs

In one reef, three million sea cucumbers released 64,000 metric tons of nutrient-packed poo back into the ecosystem

Sidewinder snakes most likely phased out the spikes along their bellies in favor of a smoother belly that can move with no frictional drag.

Snakeskin Reveals Secrets Behind a Sidewinder’s Twisted Wiggle

Serpent bellies seem smooth, but on a microscopic level, their species-specific scale structures may show how they adapted to their environments

ENGS peaks in March during the dry season and researcher’s suspect that something within the chimps’ biology or in their environment is prompting the disease

The Mysterious Cause of a Deadly Illness in Sanctuary Chimps Revealed

Researchers identified the 100 percent fatal pathogen as epizootic neurologic and gastroenteric syndrome or ENGS

Researchers were first intrigued by the social structure of the mole rats in the 1970s because, like bees and termites, naked mole rats have a single-breeding queen and have non-breeding worker rats

Naked Mole Rats Speak in Dialects Unique to Their Colonies

The accent is influenced by each group’s queen but can vary if the monarch is overthrown

Female Mediterranean field crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) crickets can tell male cricket qualities and fitness through their courtship songs.

Noise Pollution Interrupts Crickets’ Sex Lives

Anthropogenic noise is affecting the female cricket’s ability to hear the male’s courting song

During fall migration, nearly 40 percent of Anna’s Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) migrate through California’s Central Valley

California’s Central Valley and the Colorado River Delta Are Epicenters for North America’s Migratory Birds

A database called eBird reveals as many as 65 million birds fly through these Western migration zones

All dogs with the genetic signature A2b descended from the same Siberian canines roughly 23,000 years ago

How Dogs Migrated to America From Ice Age Siberia 15,000 Years Ago

Northern Siberians and ancestral native Americans may have traded pups at the time

The tasty fungi are naturally found deep within the roots of various trees, like oaks, hazels, spruces, and pines, because of the two organisms share a symbiotic relationship.

In Central Europe, Climate Change Could Boost Truffle Cultivation by 2050

Fancy fungi grown in the Czech Republic may benefit from global warming

Fossil remains of crocodiles from as early as the Jurassic period show identifying characteristics in modern crocodiles

Are Crocodiles Flawless? The Reptiles Haven’t Changed in 200 Million Years

For crocs, slow and steady wins the evolutionary race

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