You ve heard legends of snakes that hypnote their prey - Kaa in "The Jungle Book" did it and Disney is renowned for their scientific accuracy - but a tentacled snake from South East Asia has gone hypnosis one better; it startles its prey so that the fish turn toward the snake s head to flee instead of turning away.
A new, complete tree of life tracing the history of all 4,500 mammals on Earth shows that they did not diversify as a result of the death of the dinosaurs, says new research published in Nature today. The study was undertaken in the UK by scientists at Imperial College London and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
Concern that many animals are becoming extinct before scientists even have time to identify them has led to some exaggeration, according to Griffith University researcher Professor Nigel Stork. A number of misconceptions have fueled these fears, Stork said, and there is no evidence that extinction rates are as high as some have feared.
North American marine turtles are at risk if global warming occurs at predicted levels, according to scientists from the University of Exeter. An increase in temperatures of just one degree Celsius could completely eliminate the birth of male turtles from some beaches.