Living world news archive

2010

• April-June
• Orang-utan language identified
• Humpback whales form friendships that last years
• Deep sea fish 'mystery migration' across Pacific Ocean
• Monster colossal squid is slow not fearsome predator
• Chimps 'feel death like humans'
• Clever New Caledonian crows can use three tools
• Census offers glimpse of oceans' smallest lifeforms
• First oxygen-free animals found
• Giant lizard species discovered in the Philippines


• January-March
• Hyena laughs and giggles decoded
• Giant meat-eating plants prefer to eat tree shrew poo
• Bonobos opt to share their food
• Supercharged swifts take flight speed record
• Ants are first animal known to navigate by stereo smell
• The mystery of identical creatures found in both Arctic and Antarctic waters
• Sperm whale groups 'may corral deep squid'
• Elephant 'secret language' clues
• A mouse that eats ferns like a dinosaur
• Census discovers 5,000 marine species
• Do speedy elephants walk or run?
• Giant bizarre deep sea fish filmed in Gulf of Mexico
• Shining a light on plants' quantum secret to boost photosynthesis
• Burrowing prairie dogs use complex language
• 'Echoes' in bat and dolphin DNA

2009

• October-December
• Scrubby oak lauded as oldest known living organism
• Octopus snatches coconut and runs
• Monkey calls give clues to language origins
• Hammerhead shark mystery solved
• 'Giant' orb web spider discovered


• July-September
• Giant rat found in 'lost volcano'
• Strange jellies of the icy depths
• Giant 'meat-eating' plant found
• Apes may imitate but they struggle to innovate
• Spider builds life-sized decoys


• April-June
• The plant that pretends to be ill
• The cephalopods can hear you
• Chimps mentally map fruit trees
• Bats 'recognise others' voices'
• Rooks reveal remarkable tool-use
• Venom is key to Komodo dragon's killing power
• Largest herd of gazelles sighted
• Baby chicks do basic arithmetic


• January-March
• Chimps craft ultimate fishing rod
• Ice oceans 'are not poles apart'
• Venomous mammal caught on camera
• 'Spookfish' has mirrors for eyes

2008

• October-December
• Real-life 'gremlin' rediscovered in the wild
• Octopuses share 'living ancestor'
• 'Deepest ever' living fish filmed


• July-September
• 'Ant from Mars' found in Amazon jungle
• Bumblebees outwit robotic spiders
• New giant clam species discovered
• Magpie 'can recognise reflection'
• Wild dolphins tail-walk on water
• World's smallest snake discovered
• Live fish caught at record depth


• April-June
• Sloth's lazy image 'a myth'
• Colossal squid's big eye revealed
• Squid thaw set for a fresh start
• World's only lungless frog leaves scientists gasping


• January-March
• Dolphin woos with wood and grass
• 'Bizarre' new mammal discovered
• Chameleons' colourful flashes are social signals
• Synthetic life 'advance' reported
• Giant palm tree puzzles botanists
• 'Laughs' not exclusive to humans

2007

• October-December
• Giant rat and new possum found in Indonesia
• How elephants keep tabs on family
• 'Extraordinary memory' of chimps
• Monkeys reveal brain is hard-wired for counting
• Possum breaks record with year-long snooze
• Eighty million years without sex


• July-September
• Eleven new species found in Vietnam's Green Corridor
• Chimps 'raid' fruit to lure mates
• Godwit makes huge Pacific flight
• Eels imitate Alien
• Cleverest crows opt for two tools
• Ancient microbes 'revived' in lab
• Sugar-rushes keep bats airborne
• Orangutans use 'charades' to talk
• Countdown to a synthetic lifeform
• When fish get emotional
• Piranha 'less deadly than feared'


• April-June
• Team claims synthetic life feat
• 'Altruistic' chimps act for the benefit of others
• Robot sub explores giant canyon
• Japan tunes in to birth of giant manta ray
• Gecko's gravity-defying trick explained
• Cogitating monkeys can calculate statistics
• Blue whales 'making a comeback'
• Singing whales like a big audience
• 'Living plugs' smooth ant journey
• Goose smashes sea-crossing record
• Captive shark had 'virgin birth'