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Hate spiders? The Malaysian jumping spider might just��win you over. New research reveals that Paracyrba wanlessi��preys almost exclusively on a despised human foe: the .��

Perhaps a little respect is in order for an arachnid that gobbles up swarms of mosquitoes,��the disease-transmitting insects����due to and other illnesses—not to mention��endless annoyances on summer nights. (Related: ��.'��)

A male jumping spider, Paracyrba wanlessi, in Ulu Gombak Forest Reserve, Malaysia.��Photograph by Daiqin Li

“Many other animals, including other spiders, may sometimes eat mosquitoes,�� study co-author��, a biologist��at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury and the��, said by email.

“But��this spider��is different, because this is a species that loves mosquitoes more��than anything else!����said Cross, whose study��. (.)

In fact, when Cross and colleagues reared spiders in the lab on non-mosquito diets and then gave the arachnids various options on the menu, they still chose mosquitoes. “This active preference for mosquitoes��is highly unusual,�� she said.

All Mosquitoes, All the Time

In fact, so far only one other animal is known to be such a strong : another jumping spider from tropical Africa called��Evarcha culicivora. This arachnid also��happens��to prefer��Anopheles mosquitoes—the worst offenders in spreading disease, particularly malaria.

This is an example of ; the two distantly related spiders evolved very similar traits—in this case, eating mosquitoes—independently, according to the study. (Also see “��.��)

But at mealtime, the two spiders enlist quite opposite strategies.

��Evarcha feeds��indirectly on blood by choosing blood-carrying mosquitoes as prey,�� study leader ,��also at Canterbury, said by email.��“You could say the mosquito��is a syringe with wings that delivers the blood to Evarcha.��

Evarcha culicivora eats a mosquito at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology field office in Mbita, Kenya, in 2007.��Photograph by Remi Benali, Corbis

Paracyrba, on the other hand, isn’t focused on the blood content. If there’s a mosquito, empty or full, the spider targets it, said Jackson, who received funding from .

Most remarkably, the spider will eat mosquitoes��of various species at all stages of life—even though juvenile and adult mosquitoes are distinctly different animals, looking almost nothing alike. A juvenile lacks wings, a proboscis, large compound eyes, and legs, and it lives in wet habitats much different from adults�� dry environs.

“Juvenile mosquitoes live in water and they are of no interest to��Evarcha, but��Paracyrba��scoops juvenile mosquitoes out of the water,�� Jackson said.

So really,��Paracyrba��has two kinds of preferred prey, he noted. “It��chooses adult mosquitoes away from water and juvenile mosquitoes in water.��This kind of double-barrel specialization on mosquitoes has never been demonstrated for a��predator before.��

“Like a Miniature Cat��

The spider also has to adjust its capture style depending on the mosquito’s habitat—stalking adults on land but ambushing and repeatedly attacking juveniles from the water’s edge.

��Paracyrba [like other jumping spiders] has��extraordinarily good eyesight and hunts for its prey like a miniature cat,�� Cross said.��(.)

“But even when the spider��has never seen, let alone eaten, a mosquito before, and even when it has only been��reared on a diet of terrestrial prey or on a diet of aquatic prey, it still knows what to do�� in either scenario presented to it, she said, suggesting that the���ʲ����������������s preference for mosquitoes is hardwired.

“Whether��the mosquito is a juvenile or an adult, it doesn’t stand much of a chance,�� she added.

Itching With Promise

Such an innate, rather extreme behavior certainly has researchers swatting around big-picture possibilities.

“Any predator that singles out mosquitoes as preferred prey has to be of exceptional��interest,�� said Jackson. “Mosquitoes are not just a nuisance that keep you awake at night by buzzing around your��ears. These insects are also notorious vectors of malaria, dengue, and other diseases,�� especially in the tropical environments where the jumping spiders live.

Of course, no one would advocate simply turning spiders loose in places where mosquitoes and the infections they spread are problematic, especially if the spiders aren’t normally there. (Also see ��.��)

And no spider, no matter how hungry, will be a��magic bullet that will rid us of mosquito-borne disease. But further study and creative thinking might suggest a role for them in solving a major public health problem. “And they are out there in nature for��free,�� Jackson said.

For now.

Even with big animals like lions and elephants, “it can be hard to determine how many are out and about in their natural habitat,�� Jackson said.

“It’s even harder with a spider. Paracyrba is believed common in its Asian bamboo-forest habitat, but habitat destruction is happening now on such a massive scale, sometimes it’s hard to be optimistic.��

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Foodies aren’t the only ones swarming cities in search of the best eats.��Even bees are going urban to satisfy their taste for diverse, high-quality food—especially as wild habitat becomes more scarce, new research reveals.

, an urban entomologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has been studying the foraging habits of native bees in the to find out just how much the pollinating ��are visiting and sampling foods from urban gardens. (See ��.��)

Augochloropsis ignita collects pollen from a flower of Brazilian guava.��Photograph by Rollin Coville

The answer: Quite a bit more than expected. It may seem a little counterintuitive, but “urban environments are actually a refuge for bees,�� said Frankie, who has received funding from the��. That’s because cities provide bees with new food resources, especially if native plants have short flowering seasons or are in short supply because of and other land-use changes.��

City Bees

For the past decade, as part of the��, Frankie and colleagues have been��monitoring specimens of the same plant species in both wild forests and ��environments—where they’re often the flashier, ornamental varieties—and recording��the bee numbers and species tending to those plants. Costa Rica has 800 bee species; his team has collected 112. They found that��in most cases, a plant specimen located in an urban setting attracts as many bee species as does its wild counterpart; occasionally, city specimens actually get more visitors than the wild ones.��

Native plants are preferred in both locations, but the bees don’t turn up their noses at non-native sweets. Overall, as many as 80 percent of the native bees observed in wild settings were also visiting the urban gardens, according to the study (which has not yet been published). “That was higher than we expected, and it gave us hope. As more natural areas are disappearing or being impacted by humans, urban areas offer something more stable—people are looking after them.��

Centris varia visits a flower of Poincianella eriostachys.��Photograph by Rollin Coville

The findings support the idea that properly designed urban spaces (meaning, gardens that are planted with particular bee preferences in mind) can not only maintain but even enhance the ability of pollinators to survive and do their jobs. (Also see ��.��)

What’s not yet clear is whether these insects are nesting in the cities or just commuting in for meals. “Right now we only know they are foraging from urban��plants. Do they stay around or go out of the city to nest? We need to know if they merely transition through the city�� or stay around to complete their life cycles outside of the wild. If so, the urban gardens are that much more important for the health of the bee population.

Spreading the Bee Buzz

Many of Costa Rica’s hundreds of bee species are crucial pollinators of important crops (such as beans, squash, and watermelons) and diverse native flora. That’s why Frankie’s team, with its plentiful bee data, is now working with biologist Ana Chassoul, of the��,��to reach out to schools and other audiences about pollinators. The idea is to make more people familiar with native Costa Rican bee species and the plants that support them, and to spread the word that both wild and planted landscapes can help the insects thrive. (Also see ��.'��)

Meanwhile, he and his Berkeley colleagues are beginning to design the first bee-habitat garden in Costa Rica. The��Santa Ana Conservation Center will��be used for education and as a model for future pollinator-friendly urban spaces in that country and beyond.

Happy Pioneers

Even in the U.S., where bees are now regulars in the news because of massive declines from and other afflictions, native bee species haven’t achieved the status of their counterparts.��(See ��.��)

“A few years ago most people in the U.S. knew almost nothing of bees, could maybe identify a honeybee or a carpenter bee, but that’s about all,�� Frankie said. “Now, everyone is very interested! But native bees are still relatively unstudied.��

Augochloropsis metallica visits an Ipomea flower in Liberia, the capital city of Guanacaste Province. Note that it is missing its left antenna, a common occurrence that doesn’t seem to slow the insects down much. Photograph by Rollin Coville

Still, some U.S. cities, including many in California (with its 1,600 native bees)—where Frankie’s team is doing similar monitoring as in Costa Rica—are making strides in giving these bees what they need. (See Frankie and colleagues�� bee-friendly��.)

of St. Louis University in Missouri said urban environments are going to become more and more valuable to pollinators.��(.) “As city planners turn to a more restricted use of pesticides, bees should become happy pioneers in cities, encouraging quality projects in horticulture,�� he said.

California has led the way in the domestication of some brilliant wildflowers, “which must bring a number of native bees into the city to stay.�� And he thinks the data will eventually show they aren’t there just to feed. “After all, many species prefer to nest in dense soil, and we know the lawns in city parks receive a lot of trampling from our shoes. Urban dirt is hard-packed, the way bees like it.��

Going Non-Native

While managed honeybees do the lions�� share of the pollinating that interests farmers, economists, and policymakers, native insects also pick up a lot of slack. In response, the charge by bee-garden purists in the U.S. has always been to stick to native plants in city gardens, a tall order when in fact urban gardeners use more than 90 percent exotic plants. (Also see ��.��)

Frankie said that for helping pollinators, that distinction might not be as important as once thought. “Bees will go wherever they can find pollen and nectar. If urban gardens are diverse, bees will visit. We are learning the relationships between particular bees to particular flowers so we can predict the best mix of plants in each environment, and that will include both native and non-natives.��

“It’s true that native bees overall prefer native plants,�� said international landscape designer Kate Frey, . “Having said that, if recommending people only plant native species turns them away from planting bee gardens, we have to compromise. Some ornamentals bloom when there is a dearth of other flowers, so using non-native plants to bridge the gap, to supplement during lean times of native flora, could be a good thing.”��(.)

Overall, Frankie recommends that some 10 percent of urban land—whether in Costa Rica or California or elsewhere—should be dedicated to bee-friendly gardens. “I know that’s a big wish, but the more we plant the right types and numbers of plants, the more bees, and more bee species, we can expect. If we do the gardens right, they will come.��

To make your own garden attractive to native bees, Frey offers these tips:

1. The same flowers that make us happy also support bees. Choose appropriate plants for your climate and soils. Each area of the country has specific plants that will thrive there, and not all plants are bee-friendly. Do your research to discover which plants serve your location, and native pollinators, best.

2. Plant profusely. The more flowers there are, the more food resources for bees. Putting just one plant here and another over there doesn’t support many bees, and doesn’t make for a lovely garden anyway.

3. Plant in patches or repeat the same plant throughout the garden. Native bees and honeybees need at least ten square feet (a square meter) from which to gather floral resources. Collector gardens with one each of various kinds of plants are not going to feed the bees.

4. Try to plan for as many months of bloom as your climate allows. Ornamental plants can help bridge the gaps.

5. Use at least 50 percent native plants, which will also draw butterflies and moths.

6. Offer more variety to pollinators by including annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees.

7. Make bee nesting habitat part of your garden. Seventy percent of native bees are ground-nesters that need bare ground (without mulch). Thirty percent nest in crevices—wood or hollow plant stems. Gardeners can make bee nest blocks or keep an old tree or snag on the property for these insects.

8. Bees like the warm sun and prefer sun-loving plants to shade plants. So, let there be light and heat in your city oasis!

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A lioness chases a greater kudu in Namibia, a similar event to the one described below. Photograph by Martin Harvey, Gallo Images/Corbis

Oops.

Two wild animals that are part of two separate��National Geographic-funded research studies in Africa crossed paths last week. Only one walked away.

The deadly meeting went down on the savanna in , Mozambique. The perp: a female lion from the Lua Cheia pride, a group with two adult females and four nine-month-old cubs. The pride is being monitored by Paola Bouley and colleagues as part of����(the Gorongosa Lion Project, which Bouley cofounded to help lion population recovery and conservation).

The victim: An adult female kudu—one of several species of antelope studied by Princeton’s , Ryan Long, and colleagues. (They are investigating how the spacing of plant-topped termite mounds—from which antelopes feed—affects the mammals�� movements and numbers. The project is supported by the .)

“Ridiculous�� Odds

The antelope team has put GPS collars on 30 animals so far, just 10 of them kudu, and the lion team is following only 8 collared cats. The odds of a collared lion meeting—and eating—a collared kudu? “Ridiculously low,�� Long said.

And yet��

Long starts his days on the ground in Mozambique going online and checking the latest GPS data from his study animals, to make sure all are still alive. “On the morning of August 7, I was actually blown away to see that I had a kudu collar in mortality mode,�� he said. (The collars “know�� and report when an animal has been motionless for a certain amount of time.) Kudu are robust and relatively rare in the park. “My first thought was actually that we might have a malfunctioning collar.��

But the collar was working fine, and by the time Long and veterinarian Rui Branco reached the remote site by helicopter, their kudu was just skin and bones.

On the Case

The researchers began trying to piece together what had happened to the victim. There was no evidence that she’d been snared by a poacher, which was good news. But besides the ungulate’s carcass, her collar still fastened around what was left of her neck, the killer hadn’t left much to go on—no claw marks or tooth marks that would unequivocally indicate a lion kill.

“As a result, we actually left the kill site a bit confused about the whole thing,�� Long said. “It wasn’t blatantly obvious that she’d been eaten by lions, but there was also no way any other carnivore or scavenger in the park could have consumed her so entirely in so little time.��

Chasing Evidence

Meanwhile, Bouley, director of the lion project, was curious about a cluster of data points from the lions�� GPS collars that suggested the cats preyed on something. On that day she happened to be out tracking the very predators that Long and Rui would soon finger for killing their animal. In fact, the two men were by then heading toward the same coordinates Bouley was stalking. (Read about National Geographic’s��.)

Though the teams didn’t meet on the ground, it wasn’t long before the kudu researchers thought to look at Bouley’s GPS data from the Lua Cheia pride. And there, in dots on a map, was the evidence they needed to solve the mystery. The coincidence was bizarre, but the animals had clearly met face to face, and one or both of the adult lions had then done what hungry lions do best. (Bouley can’t say which lion made the first strike, “but they likely all participated in the takedown.�� That would include a cat who previously lost a paw in a poacher’s trap.)

Of 40 documented kills by this pride of lions, this was the first kudu to fall. The��incident happened near a large watering hole, the researchers say, which could be why the animals were at that spot at the same time (though no one knows for sure).

Big Loss

Especially for projects with such small sample sizes, losing even one animal is a big deal. Pringle explained that the researchers had been laying the groundwork for the antelope project for more than a year, and had only just this summer gotten collars onto ten female kudu (plus ten bushbucks and ten nyalas).��This involves darting them from a helicopter (in the case of kudu), or from a car for the smaller species. “While they are anesthetized after being darted, we collect various information on their size, body condition, reproductive status, etc. Then the collar goes on, and the animals wake up and wander off with their new jewelry.�� (It’s the same labor-intensive process to collar lions.)

“Our two projects have been very much aware of each other and collaborative throughout,�� Pringle said. “There aren’t a lot of scientists working in Gorongosa, so we’re all good friends and try to help each other where we can.��

But no collaborative spirit could have helped in this case. Wild animals do what they do regardless of protocols, and the researchers know that losses can come at any time.

Of course, there are no hard feelings between the teams.

“Lions gotta eat,�� Long said, “and I’d rather lose a kudu to a lion than to a poacher!��

What has three eyes, two noses, and an antenna poking up like a little puppet from its head?

That would be a unique specimen of the freshwater crab , discovered in New Zealand and described��in this .

A malformed specimen of the freshwater crab Amarinus lacustris from New Zealand. Photograph by Stephen Moore, Gerhard Scholtz

The “tri-clops�� crab’s peculiar extra parts, and its malformed , are likely the result of��a combination of bodily missteps. The crustacean has characteristics of a conjoined twin (duplicated parts: in this case, eyes) and a messed-up attempt at regeneration (crabs can regenerate an eye if one is damaged, but here an antenna popped up instead). (See: ��.��)

Nature is no perfectionist; boo-boos happen. For scientists, these oddities are not just fun to study but valuable to understand.

“Naturally occurring anomalies show what is possible,�� said��,��of Humboldt University in Berlin, who led the new study on the weird crab.

Studying them “is like learning from mistakes. If things go wrong, and you understand the causes and mechanisms, you understand the causes and mechanisms for normal development as well.��

We took a look at some of nature’s most fascinating blunders.

Freakish Mutations

There are bad genetic mutations and fatal ones—which, by their nature, are weeded out of the gene pool. But other genetic tweaks stick around, because they offer some competitive advantage, something that improves survival. (Sound familiar? Darwin had it figured out in his .)

Genes aren’t solely responsible for abnormal beasts. For instance, the development process, which involves genes but also other factors, can stumble: If a body part develops at a slightly different time than usual, there can be a cascade of effects.

The environment too may fiddle with processes. For example, the temperature of incubating reptile eggs decides the sex of the animals, and excess heat can cause two heads to grow instead of one. (See: ��.��)

An unusual turtle with two heads is seen in 2006 in Qingdao, China. The owner, who found the animal at a market, reported at the time that it was in good health and eats more than normal turtles.��Photograph by ChinaFotoPress, Getty Images

Often, the cause of an aberrant form isn’t just one thing but a mix of factors, said University of Iowa neuroscientist , author of the book��. As he explained it,��“Many of the normal features that we see in animals—think elephant trunks, enlarged genitalia in female hyenas—may have arisen as evolutionary novelties with changes in the environment�� that altered how the animals developed.

He added, “some scientists now believe that the genetic changes follow rather��than lead��the process.�� So instead of one culprit, a mix of environment, genes, developmental steps, and time can together breed a whole new animal.

Mutations can also lead scientists to a helpful process of backward reasoning, Humboldt University’s Scholtz said. “One observes a pattern and tries to reconstruct the mechanisms and historical pathways that might have led to this result—like a detective using [a blood-spatter pattern] to reconstruct a murder.��

Today, of course, scientists don’t have to wait for nature to mess up. They can create their own mutants in the lab by fiddling with cells or plucking out genes.

Genetically altered��,��for example, are used in many research studies.

One-Eyed Lambs

In the 1950s, Idaho sheep ranchers were startled by the birth of cyclops lambs—animals with a single eye smack dab in the middle of their foreheads.��They also had underdeveloped brains.

It turned out that flowers were to blame: A chemical in corn lilies that the animals had been eating during drought periods was stunting the lambs�� embryonic growth.

Later, scientists figured out that cyclopamine, as the chemical was named, blocks the activity of a gene vital to embryonic development. More recently, the chemical .

White-Eyed Fly

Though less bizarre looking than some, one of the more important “freaks�� emerged in the early 1900s, before the field of molecular biology even existed: the white-eyed Drosophila fly.

By studying the fly—which appeared in a batch of normal red-eyed flies he was breeding—evolutionary biologist and embryologist Thomas Hunt Morgan��

Siamese Twins

Over the years we’ve covered lots of nature’s anomalies, especially the two-headed kind.

There’s��the����discovered in China;�� found in a lagoon in Baja, California; and a��.

According to Scholtz, such examples of Siamese twins most likely result from the incomplete splitting of an embryo that otherwise would have become identical twins, and they occur in all major animal groups.

Nature’s bloopers can be truly useful to science. The rest of us just love sending pictures of these freakish creatures to our friends. ?

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��owners were right all along. Our pups really do get jealous when we direct our affection elsewhere—but mostly when their rival for attention appears to threaten their social life.

Once thought to be too complex an emotion for nonhumans, jealousy in canines—and the “pay attention to me�� behaviors that arise from it—probably evolved to protect important social bonds in the pack, according to a new paper.

An older dog looks out the window at the new member of the household.��Photograph by , National Geographic Your Shot

Study leader��, a psychologist at��the University of California at San Diego,��was playing with her parents�� border collies when she got the idea to study jealousy in dogs. (.)

“I noticed that when I was paying attention to two of them at the same time, petting them and talking to them, they weren’t content to share that attention,�� she said.

“One would push the other’s head out from underneath my hand so that both hands were on him. The other did the same. They each wanted exclusive affection.��

Sniffing Out Rivals

Adapting��, Harris and colleague��Caroline Prouvost set up experiments with 36 dogs in their homes. The team videotaped the dogs�� reactions��while their owners ignored them and instead paid attention to a stuffed animal (a realistic-looking dog that whined, barked, and wagged its tail), a jack-o-lantern pail, and a pop-up book that they read aloud.

The resulting behaviors suggest the dogs assessed each “rival�� and decided whether it warranted action. If it did, they did their best to break the bond that left them out, according to the��.

More specifically, of the 36 dogs observed—a varied lot including a Boston terrier, Yorkshire terriers, chihuahuas, a pug, and mutts��78 percent would push or touch the owner when that person was petting and sweet-talking the fake dog; 42 percent were upset over attention toward the pumpkin pail, and just 22 percent were bothered when the book was the focus.��(See��.)

Also telling, nearly a third of the dogs tried to place their bodies between the owner and the stuffed dog, and 25 percent snapped at the toy. (Only one dog snapped at the pail and book.)��And 86 percent of the dogs sniffed the stuffed animal’s rear end as they would a real dog. It appeared, the scientists say, that the dogs saw the doglike interloper as a true threat.

That was a bit of a surprise. “We weren’t sure we would get such behaviors over a stuffed animal,�� since it lacked the animation and smells of a real dog, Harris said.��(Watch��.��)

“I think their reactions would have been even stronger had the rival been real.�� (Including real rival dogs in the experiment would have muddied the findings, as it would be��difficult to control the situation and collect data evenly.)

“Our research suggests that when confronted with a rival for a loved one’s attention, dogs engage in behaviors aimed at regaining the rival’s affection and getting rid of the rival.

“These behaviors would seem to be motivated from a jealous emotional state”—though of course, she pointed out, the findings don’t speak to the subjective state of the dog’s mind.

Dogs: Just Like Us?

So do dogs go green with envy in the same way we do? Probably not.

“Humans and dogs are different in a number of ways,�� Harris said. “For example, I would doubt that the dog ruminates on the transgression after the fact, whereas humans do. Humans also ask themselves all kinds of questions about the meaning of an infidelity (am I boring? unlovable?) and about the relationship (will this be the end of my relationship?). These types of thoughts are obviously going to impact the experience and feelings of jealousy.��

Instead, what she imagines is shared across both species “is the urge to stop the interaction, to engage in behaviors that reestablish the loved one’s attention. The appraisal that a loved one is interacting with a rival seems sufficient to motivate this state.”��(.)

The findings “are another step in dispelling myths about what dogs supposedly cannot do,�� said Marc Bekoff, a fellow at the����and an expert in dog behavior.

There are����based on solid evolutionary theory that even complex emotions like envy and guilt aren’t exclusive to human beings, said Bekoff, who wasn’t involved in the study.

“And there is no reason to assume that what animals experience is any less real or deep for them than our emotions are for us.��

It’s perhaps not surprising that in the study of human infants this dog study emulated, the babies, like the dogs, were much more likely to exhibit jealous behaviors when their mothers were attending to a realistic doll than when reading a book—a nonsocial activity.

More Green-Eyed Monsters?

Not only does the study show more broadly that jealousy is not a human construct, it also suggests the emotion does not have to be based on sexual rivalry—which is the way people often think about it.

Instead, it may have its roots in the need to secure resources in all kinds of valued social relationships, be they sexual, parental, sibling, or just friendly. (See “��)

Dogs seem like the perfect species in which to look for something like envy: They are cognitively sophisticated, form bonds with humans and with each other, and will try to manipulate the way we give them attention (as the collies did). But what about other animals?

The official studies still need to be done, but Bekoff said to expect a lot more evidence showing how sophisticated the emotional lives of nonhuman creatures can be.

“We need to keep the door open on the cognitive and moral capacities of other animals.��

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Here’s some explosive news from the world of pollinators: A plant baits with puffy treats, then blasts any takers with pollen—a unique discovery.

A few other flowering plants have bellows-like systems to release pollen, but those are activated when a pollinator’s beak or paw puts unintended pressure against the stamens, or male reproductive parts. (Related: ��.��)

A flower of Axinaea affinis, which blasts birds with pollen. Photograph courtesy Current Biology

The new research details the first example in which birds, plucking at stamens one by one, are the only target, and the first known case in this plant family of a flower offering a food reward of this kind.

“It’s a great example of how intricate the relationships can be that have evolved between flowers and their pollinators,”��said����of Austria’s University of Vienna, who co-authored a study on the subject .

The Big Squeeze

The flowering plant, of the genus��Axinaea, lives in the mountains of Central and South America.

Its pollination works like this:��Bulbous appendages on its stamens attract hungry birds. When a bird’s beak nabs an appendage, it “functions like a paper bag full of air,”��Schönenberger said.

“When the bag is squeezed, the air contained in it is forced through a narrow connection into the pollen chambers. The resulting air current in the pollen chambers [tubular structures with a porelike opening at the end, like a syringe] then flushes out the pollen grains through a pore at the opposite end.��

That blast of pollen to the face virtually ensures the bird will transfer it to a plant’s female parts as it continues to forage—thus allowing the plant to reproduce.��(.)

Reproducing isn’t easy for plants: They’re “under tremendous pressure to get their gametes [sex cells, in the pollen] to the female flower parts—a very tiny target, much smaller than a soccer goal to a player,�� said ��of the University of Munich in Germany, who studies the family of plants (Melastomataceae) to which Axinaea��belongs.

“This has resulted in a seemingly unending diversity of pollination mechanisms,�� including the bellows.

The bellows strategy was first described in 1899 in another genus of the same plant family, she said, “but the way��Axinaea��does it has never before been described.��

More commonly, she says, pollen is offered more or less openly on the stamens, or the prize is shaken loose by ��,”��in which��bees apply vibrations using their flight muscles to extract the powdery stuff.

She��says it’s likely that the newfound mechanism evolved from buzz pollination, which is found in about 98 percent of the 5,000 species in the Melastomataceae family.��(.)

Bird Surprise

When study leader����and colleagues��first started examining Axinaea, it wasn’t clear how the plant worked or what pollinator(s) it would attract.

“Our hypothesis was actually that beetles might be the legitimate pollinators of��Axinaea,�� Schönenberger said, since the insects��“are known to be interested in food bodies and other floral tissues in other plants.��

But field observations proved it was birds.

“This was completely unexpected, a real surprise for all of us!�� he said. “We were even more surprised when we realized that the birds are actually consuming the entire stamens, the male reproductive organs,�� which hadn’t been seen before. (See ��)

To figure out how the complex system worked, the scientists used light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution x-ray computed tomography to get a clear picture of the anatomy and function of the stamens.

“We were also very interested to find out what the birds are going for. Why are they feeding on the stamens?�� The chemical composition of the stamens gave them the answer:��“They contain a lot of sugar, similar amounts as in berries,”��Schönenberger said. Jackpot.

Vulnerable Partnership

The newfound partnership is a win-win: “reliable reproduction for the plant, efficient foraging for the bird,�� said of the University of Colorado, Boulder, who studies floral evolution and genetics.

But the downside of such mutual reliance, built up over some 150 million years of co-evolution, is that both species are at higher risk if either’s population declines.

“This group of species is found in a unique part of the Andes on the border of Ecuador and Peru, a relatively low-elevation area compared with the rest of the range�� that’s more susceptible to development than higher-altitude areas are,��Smith said.��Not all of it is protected.

In the case of the pollen-spitting Axinaea, if habitat fragmentation or loss were to hit key bird populations hard, “it might not be able to attract another animal to consume the bellows,�� she said, “so the plant might go extinct as well.��

And what a huge blow to pollinator and floral biodiversity that would be.

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The superfast tongue of the horned frog is also a superpowerful adhesive.

A new study is the first to explain just how this ‘s feeding apparatus sticks to prey so successfully.

Evolutionarily speaking, it makes sense for the frogs to have an accelerating rocket of a tongue—to get the biggest smack for their effort and thus the grabbiest one. This mechanism is what lets the animals catch relatively large prey.

An Argentine horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) jumps on a mouse.��Photograph by Fritz Rauschenbach, Corbis

Horned frogs do eat insects but also lizards, snakes, rodents, other frogs, and small birds. With a less sticky apparatus, those animals would be too heavy or could easily escape before being pulled into a frog’s jaws. (.)

Inspiring their amphibian subjects to shoot out their tongues at glass slides (behind which a tasty cricket was visible), and Stanislav Gorb, who research functional morphology and biomechanics at�� in Germany, measured the sticking power and contact areas of the tongues of South American horned frogs (genus��Ceratophrys).

And what they learned surprised them.

Powerful Protuberances

Frog tongues produce on average only about one-fifteenth the adhesive strength of the feet of a gecko, another famously sticky animal,��Kleinteich said. (Related: ��.��)

“However, in terms of prey capture, frog tongue adhesive forces are enormous—on average 1.4 times their body weight.

“Translated into human dimensions,�� he said, “that would be an 80-kilogram [176-pound] person lifting 112 kilograms [246 pounds] just by using his or her tongue.��And they do this within milliseconds�� of making contact.

Plus, with frogs�� diverse prey, their tongues must stick as well to feathers as to cuticle—a trick that nature seems to have made sure these animals have down pat.

Pretty Slick

Frog tongues leave behind slime, making them a “wet�� adhesive system. But that mucus has been long misunderstood, the authors say.

“People tend to think that the mucus acts as some sort of superglue,�� said Kleinteich. “But our results suggest that less mucus results in better adhesion.��

In the study, the longer a tongue was against the glass before snapping back, the more mucus was left behind. In natural feeding events, contact time would generally be lower than it was in the experiment—where there was no prey item to pull back to swallow—supporting the theory that mucus is not the key to the grab.

The authors said that frog tongues behave similarly to so-called pressure-sensitive adhesives (a term used by material scientists for things like sticky tapes and labels).

That means the sticking power depends on how forcefully the tongue hits the glass, how big an area it covers (in frogs measured by the wet prints left behind), and how it then detaches. As with those engineered materials, “high force is needed to initiate detachment, and then lower pulling forces occur before the contact breaks,�� Kleinteich explained.

So the highest impact smack of tongue on target allows for the strongest pulling forces, which means contact is broken almost immediately. And��that��means both less mucus and better adhesion.

Inspired by Nature

Sticky tongues aren’t just a frog thing, of course. Though the systems aren’t identical, chameleons and salamanders, for example, have a similar feeding apparatus that they can fire ballistically at distant targets. (Also see ��.��)

Meanwhile, animals�� stickiness interests engineers for possible answers to human problems.

For instance, gecko feet (and some beetle feet) have a dry grabbing mechanism that is structural. The mechanism—actually tiny hairlike protrusions —allows them to walk upside down on ceilings and such.��(Also see��)

Those have already inspired some products that need to stick well but lift off quickly, such as various kinds of bandages and��; co-author Gorb has also worked on a����with a similar design.

The authors say that as more engineering challenges arise related to holding tight and letting go, especially in moist environments like within the human body, the frog’s tongue, with its unique and powerful wet-adhesive system, could inspire even more sticky solutions.

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Love is a fickle thing—even in .�� These normally monogamous sometimes call it quits and move on to new partners—nearly a quarter of the time, in fact, says a .��Among people in the U.S., the divorce rate is about 40 percent.

And while these “divorces�� may mean sacrificing quality for quantity, both sexes can benefit from the split.

A barn owl flies in Norfolk, England.��Photograph by Sarah Darnell, Science Faction/Corbis

On a faithful note, barn owls tend to divorce only when breeding isn’t going well—for example, if there are only a few eggs laid or not many surviving chicks. When a pair is making a lot of babies, the birds remain quite loyal—and that chick-making relationship only gets better with time because the two mate more often, potentially maximizing the size of the family long-term.

Sometimes, It’s Splitsville��

and , of the , Switzerland, studied a population of free-living barn owls in western Switzerland for 24 years, observing how the pairs bonded and how many babies they had.

Barn owls are productive parents, often laying two broods per year with up to 11 (an average of six) eggs per brood. (Take .)

But if there’s a year where they don’t have many babies, either partner might choose to seek a new mate.

Among the 634 owl pairs studied, 23.5 percent divorced: 166 pairs stayed together and 51 split, with males tending to “get the house,�� meaning they stayed at the original breeding site.

Most in the divorce group had given the relationship just one year before separating (only a small percentage stayed faithful for multiple years—one couple really gave it a go, staying together for six years before giving up).

Who Leaves Whom?

In this species, very few animals “cheat”—so getting divorced is the only way to switch partners.

Because the birds are nocturnal and much happens after dark, it’s hard to know for sure which sex more often initiates the split, the scientists say. (.)

Females tend to leave the nest after divorce, though some might be pushed out rather than choosing to go. What is known is that younger males are more likely to divorce than older ones are.

Roulin says that’s not because young males aren’t ready for commitment, but rather “it takes time to find the best mate.��

“A male may not have other choice than to divorce when he is young�� in order to secure the most suitable sexual partner.

Looks Aren’t Everything

As for choosing partners, male barn owls prefer females with more and larger black spots on the tips of their feathers, though why exactly that’s considered better is unknown.

But after divorcing, the separated males often pair up with a younger, “lower-quality�� bird (one with less black coloration)—suggesting that their reason for divorce isn’t to find a “superior�� partner. (Also see ��.��)

“The cost of divorce for males, then, is to repair with a less sexy female,�� Roulin says.

In this species, then, compatibility matters more than good looks. Males were typically better sexually matched with the new bird, so that breeding produced more chicks. Same went for females (who, unlike males, didn’t lower their standards when seeking a second partner): They usually fledged more chicks with a new mate than they had with the old.

Tight Families Thrive

Though divorce has its reasons in barn owls, the study authors note that chick survival was highest of all in families in which the parents were long-term, committed partners.

So if it takes a few tries and a few broken hearts, the goal is to find a truly compatible mate and then make babies, hanging in there for the duration. Not unlike the goal of another species we know.

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‘s visiting has had a rough couple of months, but the bird is now getting a full makeover—including some shiny new feathers.

The two-year-old bird was first spotted in the nation’s capital in late January, and shortly thereafter.

Snowy owls are arctic dwellers that usually don’t make it that far south. But this winter marked possibly the largest migration of these birds to the southeastern U.S. in two decades, an influx linked to a boom in lemmings, the owls�� main prey.��(Related: “��)

At some point the Beltway bird also singed its flight feathers—likely as it took off from a heat-blasting city chimney. Burned feathers don’t function properly, making it difficult or impossible for a bird to fly.

So the owl is now in rehab at the , where, using a procedure called “imping”—an old falconers�� term that’s short for “implanting”—an avian expert has replaced the useless feathers with leftover ones taken from other birds.��(Except for some damage to the upper beak, any injuries from the bus collision, including a broken toe, had healed before the bird arrived at the center.)

Fixing Feathers

Avian physiologist Lori Arent, who manages the center’s clinic, crafted temporary replacements for the bird��using ten flight feathers—five for each wing—and eight tail feathers harvested from previous snowy owl patients.

While some reported the owl was a female, Arent said the whiter plumage and smaller body size suggest a male bird. “I have a whole freezer full of harvested feathers, of different types and sizes, and I wanted to choose the right ones for this animal. I picked feathers from a male the same age as this bird and they fit perfectly.�� (Arent didn’t probe the bird to confirm its sex, which would have added more stress to an already stressful experience.)

She then whittled small sticks of bamboo so that one end poked into the shaft of the new feather and the other into the shaft still attached to the bird (where the burned feathers had been carefully sheared off).

With a little drop of quick-drying epoxy, she cemented each new feather into place. “If attached right, the new feathers are just as effective as the old ones�� in letting a bird do all of its aerial maneuvers, she said. (See .)

Eventually, the owl will lose the borrowed feathers——and grow its own new ones.

Excellent Prognosis

Though a grounded owl loses its strength quickly, this one’s prognosis is excellent.��The Raptor Center’s staff will exercise the bird (attached to a tether) and will watch its wing and leg positions, flapping, and other markers that indicate if parts are working properly.

The D.C. owl, the sixth snowy owl to come to the center during this past fall and winter season, is housed with a female already in treatment there, and the two get along fine. Arent said that pairing them up helps keep the birds calm.

Once deemed fit, hopefully within a month, the owl will be released either in northern Minnesota or somewhere on the northern East Coast.

The owl was in-clinic yesterday afternoon having damaged wing feathers replaced through a process known as imping. Photography courtesy of the Raptor Center, University of Minnesota

Urban Jungle

This bird’s series of unfortunate events tell a bigger story—one of how wild animals can struggle in a human-dominated world, Arent added.

“Local populations of raptors grow up with all these challenges, but birds that are visitors to strange lands aren’t used to contending with vehicles and buildings,�� she said. “They come looking for food and get into trouble.”��(Related:��.��)

The Raptor Center treats some 900 injured raptors every year, ,��which often come in poisoned from eating prey killed with lead bullets. Vehicle collisions cause the most injuries overall.

Saving a single bird doesn’t help a population, of course, but “people care about owls and other raptors, so it’s worth doing what we’re doing to help this one,�� she said.

For us wingless humans, “raptors really do have their own type of magic.��