Competing for dominance speeds up AGING in baboons: Males at the top age faster as a result of constantly having to defend their higher status, study finds Researchers measured the effects of aging on the DNA of 245 baboons in Kenya They found that baboons prematurely aged as they moved up the social ladder The team … Read more
Bizarre, three-foot-wide blobs of jelly have been spotted off the Norwegian coast — and they contain tiny squid eggs in a bubble of mucus, a study has found. Researchers found that each of the blobs may contain as many as hundreds of thousands of the tiny eggs, each of which can develop into an embryonic … Read more
Female putty-nosed monkeys use males as ‘hired guns’ to defend against vicious predators such as leopards Researchers studied groups of putty-nosed monkeys in the north of the Congo They exposed the monkeys to a ‘leopard model’ — a man in a leopard-print sheet The team found that the sexes responded differently to the simulated threat Females … Read more
Octopuses have two sleep states just like humans — a ‘quiet’ one where their skin stays pale and short periods of ‘active’ sleep in which they twitch and change colour. Experts from Brazil who recorded video clips of the eight-legging animals dozing said that octopuses may have short dreams ‘like small videoclips, or even gifs.’ … Read more
Police hunting for woman, 24, who has been missing for two weeks find body in National Trust nature reserve Bethany Edwards, 24, was reported missing by her family two weeks ago Police issued appeal to find 5ft 6in blonde who had links to Northampton Officers found a body at Sharpenhoe Nature Reserve in Bedfordshire on Friday … Read more
‘I made the smelliest stink-bomb in history’: Natural History Museum scientist Richard Fortey pens evocative memoir charting his ‘obsession’ with nature which stems from childhood Distinguished scientist Richard Fortey has wrote a memoir about his childhood He is a world expert on trilobites but first found his obsession with nature as boy Fungi, fossils, wildflowers … Read more
Kourtney Kardashian embarked on a romantic relationship with new beau Travis Barker because she was ‘ready for a relationship with a more mature guy’. The 41-year-old reality star and rocker Travis, 45, went public with their relationship on Valentine’s Day, after enjoying several years as close friends. And a source has told People that the … Read more
An upside-down orangutan, a gigantic-looking bird and a flexible feathered friend performing the splits are among awe-inspiring photos honoured in this year’s World Nature Photography Awards. The contest has announced its winners from an incredible pool of entries that flooded in from all over the globe. A stunning image of an endangered Bornean orangutan staring … Read more
Reclaimed by nature: Incredible snaps capture the ruins, old railways and abandoned bridges that have been taken over by plant life These remarkable images capture places around the world covered in plants Many beautiful but crumbling buildings are swamped by trees and greenery In one picture, an abandoned Chinese fishing village is enveloped in plants By … Read more
The world’s oldest-known wild bird, a 70-year-old Laysan albatross called ‘Wisdom‘, has hatched another chick — making this at least the 40th youngster she has reared. The septuagenarian seabird gave birth again last month on the breeding habitat of Midway Atoll, a tiny island in the north Pacific, some 1,300 miles from Hawaii. Wisdom was … Read more