As sleek and zippy as a race car, the striped marlin has earned the right to be called the Ferrari of the ocean. These torpedo-shaped fish propel themselves with powerful tails and have been documented to exceed speeds of 30 kilometers per hour. No one has clocked their maximum speed in the wild, though—as far as we know, these fish could break the sound barrier. The long, pointed spear at the tip of a marlin’s snout helps it cut through the water, but if two marlin were to collide, like cars crashing into one another on a freeway, the result could be deadly. Researchers from the Science of In ..read more

They are ravenous and roving. Newly emerged from a six-month state of suspended animation, over a dozen larvae scale the crumpled paper towel inside a plastic cup. One determined individual undulates past the others to the top of the paper peak. There, it anchors its hind prolegs, raises its head and abdomen, and begins a kind of dance. About the length of a paper clip, the caterpillar sways its black and bristly body back and forth. It reaches toward the light streaming in through the greenhouse glass and the face of the woman beaming down. “It brings out the little-kid excitement in me,” say ..read more

The Balearic Islands, a Mediterranean archipelago off the coast of Spain, are a famed travel destination. Clubbers and nightlife enthusiasts flock to Ibiza, while Mallorca is more popular with families and newlyweds seeking sun, sand, sea, and history. To tourists and beachgoers, the islands’ screaming, French fry–stealing gulls are pests. But these ubiquitous birds play a surprisingly important ecological role in the picturesque archipelago. Two decades ago, ecologist Alejandro Martínez Abraín was studying seabird colonies along Spain’s coast near the Balearic Islands when he noticed somethin ..read more

Standing out in a crowd can be tough. Studies suggest that African penguins in a colony tell each other apart by sound, but scientists recently wondered if they also identify one another using visual cues. Between the ages of three and five months old, African penguins develop a distinct constellation of spots on their chests, which remain the same throughout their lives. Zookeepers often use these spots to identify individuals, and scientists have trained AI programs to recognize the patterns when analyzing video footage. To find out if the birds do the same, Luigi Baciadonna, a psychologist ..read more

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