Baby pterosaurs were cute, defenceless and unable to fly
Over 200 pterosaur eggs have been found at a site in China, the largest such discovery on record, and the embryos inside reveal what newly-hatched pterosaurs were like
Madagascar’s lemurs close to extinction after population crash
Ring-tailed lemurs have experienced a precipitous decline over the last two decades and are now one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world
Birds have childhood sweethearts that they stay with as adults
Whooping cranes form long-term monogamous relationships, and over half of couples first get together before they are both sexually mature
Light pollution is set to double between now and 2050
The first global “light census” shows that the area affected by artificial lighting is growing by 2.2 per cent every year, posing risks to wildlife and human health
How a tiny fly can ‘scuba dive’ in a salty and toxic lake
Alkali flies plunge into the salty and alkaline Mono Lake, to feed and lay their eggs, but until now it has been unclear how they manage to survive
Human arrivals wiped out the Caribbean’s giant ground sloths
Many giant mammals in the Americas have died out but it has been hard to say whether humans or natural events were responsible. Now, in the Caribbean at least, we know
Sheep learn to recognise celebrity faces from different angles
The animals were as good as humans at recognising mugshots of the same celebs from different angles, showing sophisticated brain processing of imagery
Planting trees could mop up ten years’ worth of greenhouse gases
The planet is still warming inexorably, with 2017 set to be one of the three hottest years on record, but a major programme of tree-planting could help cool the world
Dinosaur mass-extinction let mammals come out in the day
The extinction of the dinosaurs allowed our distant mammalian ancestors to start foraging during the day for the first time – and shaped our early evolution
Freeloading mites are squatting on spider webs and stealing food
A newly-discovered species of mite sets up home on a spider’s web and nibbles away at any insects the spider catches – and the spider doesn’t seem to mind