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Rory Mc Donnell interview: The slug hunter with a strange new weapon

Rory Mc Donnell interview: The slug hunter with a strange new weapon

2 March 2022

Invasive slugs and snails are not only troublesome for gardeners – they cause millions of dollars’ worth of damage to crops every year. Ecologist Rory Mc Donnell is on a mission to find evidence-based ways to get rid of these pesky gastropods


View of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), a large natural history museum containing the skeleton of the Tyrannosaur

Tyrannosaurus rex may actually be three separate species

1 March 2022

After analysing the teeth and thigh bones of 38 T. rex fossils, some researchers propose reclassifying them as three different species, but others are unconvinced


Slug species feeding on oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus)

Slug poo helps mushrooms start new colonies by spreading spores

24 February 2022

Mantleslugs carry spores of dozens of fungal species in their faeces, and some of them even begin to germinate within the moist digestive tracts


a bored french bulldog lying down and resting on sofa looking outside

Pet dogs really do grieve the deaths of other dogs they live with

24 February 2022

Nearly all dogs that lose a "companion" dog from the same household show behaviours like going off their food and seeking more human attention


A Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) perches on a Goldenrod flower.

Antibiotic used on crops might make it harder for bumblebees to forage

23 February 2022

Streptomycin, an antibiotic used to treat bacterial diseases in apple orchards, might have a negative impact on bee foraging behaviour


An extreme example of facial asymmetry in a female Virunga mountain gorilla cranium (Tayna, individual GP.148), shown as a three-dimensional surface model with texture. This individual was not included in the sample as she was dentally immature at the time of death, but she exhibits an extreme version of the asymmetric pattern documented in this study.

Mountain gorilla inbreeding has distorted their facial features

23 February 2022

The mountain gorilla population is small and inbreeding levels are high – and now there’s evidence this inbreeding may explain why some gorillas have distorted facial features


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