Nature reports

Birdsong is commonly assumed to have a dual function: attracting mates and repelling rivals; yet, these contrasting responses often remain untested in the field. Using a novel tracking system, researchers of Wageningen University..

Primates are remarkable. We’re all familiar with chimpanzees, monkeys, and ring-tailed lemurs, but have you heard of tarsiers, with their big eyes? Or Cleese’s woolly lemur, named after John Cleese? Or the fabulous red-shanked..

Mortality after reintroduction is a problem in conservation. Released animals may fail to find sufficient resources or experience high levels of predation. It is thus important to know which factors can predict survival...

A new study reveals that yellowhammer dialects, that previously existed in the UK, can still be heard in birdsong overseas, shedding new light on the cultural evolution of birdsong. A citizen science project enabled scientists to..

Why do some females not just reproduce until they die? As in humans, killer whale females go through a menopause and stop reproducing at a certain age. A new study by the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB) reveals that..

Tiny predators in the soil can literally sniff out their prey: soil bacteria, which communicate with each other using scent. A team of researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has discovered that these..

What prompts a hunter to shoot an animal after it is spotted? Wageningen and Norwegian researchers studied more than 180,000 choice situations where hunters had spotted an animal and had to decide whether or not to shoot. They..

Over 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 11% are threatened with extinction. It also reveals a devastating decline for the giraffe, driven by..

Plastic marine litter, both industrial granules and consumer wastes decline slowly but with certainty. For some years, this tendency was already present. Now, the addition of the data of monitoring year 2015 to the time series of..

55 trillion kilograms: that's how much carbon could be released into the atmosphere from the soil by mid-century if climate change isn't stopped. And all in the form of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane. Tom Crowther..