The exotic pet trade brings millions of animals into the U.S. every year. One of these animals, the tegu, is a popular reptile import thanks to its flashy looks and docile personality. Once it grows to its full 5-foot, 10-pound size, however, it often ends up escaping or being set free into the wild. In Florida, it is considered an invasive species and is of special interest to wildlife biologists and conservationists since it’s a menace to local ecosystems. Recently, the tegu has become of s ...read more
Humans display different ways of attaching to one another, shaped largely by how our caregivers responded to us in early childhood. Some of us may shy away from closeness and prefer emotional distance, while others feel anxious in relationships, seeking reassurance and fearing abandonment. Understanding these underlying attachment styles can help us navigate emotions and relationships — and, as it turns out, might even help us better understand ourselves through the eyes of our primate relativ ...read more
During an excavation, amidst the Patagonian winds and hard rock, a fossil began to turn green. It was an unexpected reaction: the adhesive applied to protect the bones, fragile after millions of years beneath the ice, had interacted with plant matter trapped in the rock’s cracks. This greenish hue earned the fossil the nickname Fiona, like the ogre from Shrek.But Fionais much more than a ogre-themed name. It is the first complete ichthyosaur ever excavated in Chile and, even more remarkably, t ...read more
There are animals out there that glow, and a lot more of them than you might think. Indeed, you may assume that it’s only the gleaming fish, squid, and shrimp that make their own light. But many mammals glow, too, not through bioluminescence, but through photoluminescence, a distinct biological process that’s best spotted by observing animals under ultraviolet, violet, or blue light.A team of researchers recently set out to identify the chemistry that makes some mammals glow under these wave ...read more
The Aztec — or Mexica — people oversaw an extensive economic network that involved trade with communities outside of the Mexica Empire, even rivals. By examining more than 700 artifacts from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan in the largest study of its kind to date, archaeologists writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences highlight the extent of this trade and the influence it had on life and politics in Tenochtitlan, the Mexica Empire’s capital.“This kind of compositiona ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine