Scientists Announce Top 10 New Species

An amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach, a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge and the smallest vertebrate on Earth are just three of the newly discovered top 10 species selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. A global committee of taxonomists — scientists responsible for species exploration and classification — announced its list of top 10 species from 2012 today, May 23.

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Conservationists Release Manual on Protecting Great Apes in Forest Concessions

A new report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) highlights the plight of great apes in the forest concessions of Central Africa and recommends actions to improve protection for gorillas and chimpanzees in these mixed-used landscapes, according to authors from the Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, IUCN, Lincoln Park Zoo and Washington University.

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Ant Study Could Help Future Robot Teams Work Underground

Future teams of subterranean search and rescue robots may owe their success to the lowly fire ant, a much-despised insect whose painful bites and extensive networks of underground tunnels are all-too-familiar to people living in the southern United States.

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Reports from the Central African Republic Indicate Security Has Returned to Dzanga-Sangha National Park

The following statement was released today by the Wildlife Conservation Society President and CEO Cristián Samper in response to the news that Gabon has agreed to help improve the management of the Central African Republic’s protected areas, which are currently threatened by large-scale elephant poaching for ivory, and that security has returned to Dzanga-Sangha National Park.

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Invasive Species: "Away-Field Advantage" Weaker Than Ecologists Thought

For decades, ecologists have assumed the worst invasive species—such as brown tree snakes and kudzu—have an “away-field advantage.” They succeed because they do better in their new territories than they do at home. A new study led by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center reveals that this fundamental assumption is not nearly as common as people might think.

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Coral Reef Fishes Prove Invaluable in the Study of Evolutionary Ecology

Coral reef fish species have proven invaluable for experimental testing of key concepts in social evolution and already have yielded insights about the ultimate reasons for female reproductive suppression, group living, and bidirectional sex change.

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Clam Fossils Divulge Secrets of Ecologic Stability

Clam fossils from the middle Devonian era now yield a better paleontological picture of the capacity of ecosystems to remain stable in the face of environmental change, according to research published today in the online journal PLOS ONE.

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Severe Case of the Cutes Cures Stress at Hopkins Nursing

Pets on Wheels rolls into Johns Hopkins Nursing, giving students hands-on proof of the healing power of animals, from Sandy Hook to the study hall.

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Cicada Snacking Tempting, but Unhealthy for Your Pet

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