Beetles hide by looking like the bite marks they make on leaves
In a particularly impressive trick of camouflage, some leaf beetles have evolved to look like the feeding damage they make on leaves, so they can hide in their own nibbles
Breeding crisis as no North Atlantic right whales born this year
The failure of the breeding season bodes ill for endangered North Atlantic right whales, which are down to a population of just 430
Newly-discovered fungi turn luckless ants into kamikaze zombies
Fifteen more species of “zombie ant fungus” have been discovered, and they all force their hosts to die in creative ways to further their own life cycle
Bats spread Ebola because they’ve evolved not to fight viruses
Bats can carry viruses like Ebola and Marburg that are lethal for humans. This may be because, in order to fly, their bodies have given up on fighting such viruses
Sea urchins can drill holes in solid rock with just their teeth
If a sea urchin can't find a suitable pit to live in, it makes one – even if it has to spend months gnawing away at hard granite
Mute male crickets are still trying to serenade females
Male Hawaiian crickets that have lost the ability to chirp still go through the motion of “singing”, even though females can’t hear them
We thought gorillas only walked on their knuckles. We were wrong
Modern gorillas can walk in a variety of styles, not just the famous “knuckle-walking”, suggesting our common ancestor was similarly resourceful
People are slaughtering orangutans and wiping them out
The population of Bornean orangutans fell by almost half in just 16 years, and it was not a sad by-product of deforestation: many apes were killed deliberately
Ants care for wounded comrades by licking their wounds clean
If a Matabele ant loses a limb in a battle with termites, its nestmates will tend its injuries - a behaviour never before seen in any non-human animal
Expedition to uncover hidden life in mystery Antarctic realm
In July 2017 a huge iceberg broke away from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf, revealing a marine world that was concealed for thousands of years