Pikas – small cousins of rabbits – live mainly in the mountainous US west. They’ve been called a climate change poster species, but they’re more adaptable than many people think.
New study used X-rays of the teeth of early mammals’ to show they were more like cold blooded reptiles.
Sabre-tooth tiger Smilodon meets the South American marsupial, Thylacosmilus. This is a classic image of supposedly ‘superior northerners’ outcompeting ‘inferior southerners’, but such meetings actually rarely happened as many of the southern species had already gone extinct.
'The rise of Smilodon', Hodari Nundu
Peter Alagona, University of California, Santa Barbara
The value that bats provide to humans by pollinating crops and eating insects is far greater than harm from virus transmission – which is mainly caused by human actions.
How did whales that feed on tiny prey evolve into the largest creatures on Earth? And why don’t they get even bigger?
Artistic view of the evolution of elephants. From left to right, Moeritherium (30 million years old), Deinotherium (5 million years old) and a modern African elephant.
Alex Bernardini (Simplex Paléo) and Sophie Vrard (Creaphi).
A shift in climate, along with other environmental disruptions and the invasion of competitors and new predators all likely played an important role in reshaping ancient elephants’ brains.
Rosa in the Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) Sanctuary, Way Kambas, Sumatra, Indonesia.
Willem v Strien/Wikipedia
Trackways made by vertebrates during the Pleistocene era, dating back to between 36 000 and 140 000 years helps with research into ancient animals.
Some tropical frogs may be developing resistance to a fungus that has devastated species like Atelopus varius, the variable harlequin frog.
Brian Gratwicke/Wikimedia