Animals
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The dish-shaped leaves emit a powerful echo that helps the bat locate the plant Most bats send out pulses of sound to find their way around; the way they sense objects in their environment by sensing how these pulses bounce off them is known as echolocation. "We already knew that plants used their brightly coloured petals to attract pollinators," explained Marc Holderied from the University of Bristol, one of the researchers involved in the study. He and his colleagues brought the plant into their laboratory and bounced to measure its acoustics - essentially firing sound pulses at it to see how they echoed. The next step was to test how the bats responded to it.
BBC Nature - Plant evolved a bat beckoning beacon
Wik-Bee Leaks: EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees | Fast Company
The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists. The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds.
BBC Nature - Fossil 'is first pregnant lizard'
The lizard was just days from giving birth when it died and was buried Researchers from University College London, who studied the fossil, say it was just days from giving birth when it died and was buried during the Cretaceous period. "I didn't think much of the fossil when I first saw it," said Prof Susan Evans, joint lead author of the paper, from University College London. But when her colleague, Yuan Wang, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, examined the fossil he spotted the tiny remains of at least 15 almost fully developed embryos inside it. The heads of at least 15 lizard embryos are visible inside the body of the fossil "It implies physiological adaptations, like adequate blood supply to the embryos and very thin shells - or no shells at all - to allow oxygen supply, evolved very early on."
Cross-dresser It seems humans aren't the only ones to use dirty tricks when it comes to getting a mate. It goes without saying that there is more to a cross-dresser than meets the eye, but some male cuttlefish have developed it to a fine art. Too small to fight for a mate, this male changes his appearance to trick a courting pair of cuttlefish into believing he's just another female looking to mate. The strategy works: the other male is fooled and the cross-dresser nips in quick while he's distracted!
BBC Nature - Sepia cuttlefish videos, news and facts