Articles by

Susan Milius

Big monarch caterpillars don’t avoid toxic milkweed goo. They binge on it

Maybe science has misunderstood the dining style of big monarch butterfly caterpillars. What insect watchers have called...

These snails give live birth, and it’s the babies that may do the labor

The oddball minority of animals that don’t lay eggs includes a tough little snail called a rough...

Ant face patterns like swirls and stubble might have practical value

National Harbor, Md. — Looking at face patterns in photos of more than 11,000 kinds of ants...

Faking death lets some female frogs slip the mating grip of a male

Grab fast and hang on for hours. A fierce grip is all the courtship finesse a male...

Watch: Recent microbial discoveries are changing our view of life on Earth

Citations F. Burki et al.  The new tree of eukaryotes. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. Vol. 35, January 2024, p. 43....

Honeybees waggle to communicate. But to do it well, they need dance lessons

In a castaway test setup, groups of young honeybees figuring out how to forage on their own...

Orca moms baby their adult sons. That favoritism pays off — eventually

Among some killer whale moms, lifelong feeding for adult sons but not daughters could be a long-term...

How plant ‘muscles’ fold up a mimosa leaf fast

Call them plant motors. Or plant muscles. Tiny bulges of specialized cells in a mimosa plant can...