Erica Nielsen, University of California, Davis and Sam Walkes, University of California, Davis
The Blob, a long-lasting mass of warm water, sat off the Pacific coast of North America for years, bringing new species to formerly cold waters. What allows some to survive while others fade away?
Dragon springtails (pictured) are widely distributed in forests of eastern Australia — yet they’re still largely unknown to science.
Nick Porch
Australia’s invertebrates have an ancient lineage and a fascinating evolution. Get up close with macrophotography to discover tiny, unique animals you’ve probably never seen before.
Conventional “dextral” garden snail on left and “sinistral” Jeremy on right.
Angus Davison/University of Nottingham
Barnacles are an invasive species, carried worldwide along shipping routes. But Japan has a local solution: predatory and herbivorous snails feed on the barnacles and limit their spread.
Researchers operate inexpensive drones to ‘see’ the areas with the highest likelihood of parasites.
Chelsea L. Wood/University of Washington
Schistosome worms infect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Researchers have discovered how to use inexpensive drones to identify disease hotspots in remote African villages.
A historical trail through its medicinal properties.
Scientists built a small database showing which animals do and don’t fart. Not every animal in the world is on there, but it does have moon snails listed as a no.
Flickr/Florida Fish and Wildlife
New research reveals how stress could alter our perceptions about which animals are ‘smart’.
We know that lots of animals, maybe all animals, sleep. Cats, dogs, even worms and jellyfish sleep. But we still don’t know exactly why they started sleeping.
Marcella Cheng/The Conversation
Pond snails use things like rocks or the side of their aquarium as their bed, attaching themselves while they sleep. This might not seem very relaxing but their shells do hang away from their body.
Giant African land snails can grow up to 15cm long.
There’s a terrifying species that spreads rapidly, breeds prolifically and eats hundreds of plants. But the first research into the actual harm caused by giant African land snails found … not much.