Animal science

A skull found on a UK beach has rewritten the history of lizards, snakes and the tuatara, the last survivor of an ancient lineage found only in New Zealand today. The new species dates back 242 million years, making it the earliest known lepidosaur.

We don't fully understand why some people are more attractive to mosquitoes – it's a complicated web of physiological and bacterial factors, geography and species. But a new study suggests that some insects like to home in on the life of the party.

Australia's embattled koalas have been given some good news for once, with the approval of the world's first chlamydia vaccine. More than a decade in the making, a single jab will now protect koalas from the disease decimating their populations.

In the largest study of its kind, scientists have documented the seismic shift in animal size over the last 1,000 years, with domesticated species becoming larger as wildlife gets smaller. It underlines the impact of one species in particular – us.

Right now, groups of Icelanders are taking to the streets late at night, armed with cardboard boxes and torches, in search of the white bellies of baby puffins. This annual tradition has become one of the most fascinating rescue missions on the planet.

Unearthed in southern Patagonia, a remarkably intact skeleton has been found to be a new species of crocodyliform: A fearsome hypercarnivore that roamed the Earth 70 million years ago, using its blade-like teeth to tear up pray – including dinosaurs.

A groundbreaking study has traced the 66-million-year history of primates to overturn conventional thought that our ancestors came from tropical forests. The earliest members of our family tree, scientists say, were actually cold-climate survivors.

Leopard seals may be one of Antarctica’s most fearsome predators, but these vocalizers sing with the structured charm of a nursery rhyme. In a new study, researchers discovered that the underwater vocal patterns of these mammals resemble human song.

They’ve been crawling across the seafloor for 500 million years, but some sea stars have amassed such a population they're eating entire reefs alive. Now, a discovery about their spine-speaking chatline gives us a leg up in this ecological arm's race.

The first known cases of accidental choking have been discovered, dating back 150 million years, when some ambitious fish got more than they bargained for while picking off algae from squid-like carcasses. It's history's oldest mealtime misadventure.

Researchers have identified a fascinating behavior in killer whales: they sometimes offer to share their prey with humans. And while the orcas haven't gone on the record to confirm it, it's likely their way of building relationships with us.

If you, like us, were under the impression that two-legged dinosaurs were pacy beasts that could zip across the ground at around 40 mph, researchers have some bad news. A new study suggests they were much, much slower than previously thought.