Despite living in hot deserts, Gila monsters prefer cooler microhabitats, like shady burrows. As the Mojave heats up, these cool zones may vanish.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/0328225_JB_gila-monster_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/0328225_JB_gila-monster_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1">
Life
Gila monsters may struggle to survive climate change
The Mojave Desert may lose and gain suitable habitat for Gila monsters. But the unathletic reptiles might be mostly stuck in the waning oases.
Animals
More Stories in Animals
- Animals
Is that shark ticking? In a first, a shark is recorded making noise
The ocean can be a symphony of fish grunts, hums and growls. Now add tooth-clacking sharks to the score.
- Animals
A tardigrade protein helped reduce radiation damage in mice
Mouse cells tweaked to produce the tardigrade protein incurred less DNA damage than unaltered cells — hinting at a new tool for cancer patient care.
- Agriculture
How silicon turns tomato plants into mean, green, pest-killing machines
Treated plants fight pests without the need for toxic pesticides, oozing a "larval toffee" that stunts tomato pinworms’ growth and attracts predators.
- Animals
Plastic ‘fossils’ help scientists reconstruct the history of bird nests
Plastic waste has let common coots reuse nests year after year. Scientists have now used the trash layers to date how old nests are.
- Animals
Hammerhead sharks’ diets may affect if they roam or stay home
Understanding hammerhead sharks’ food preferences could aid efforts to protect the critically endangered fish.
- Animals
Gray seals may sense their own blood oxygen levels
The seals’ ability to detect the amount of oxygen in their blood may help them make diving decisions and avoid drowning.
- Animals
Stinky penguin poop strikes fear into the hearts of Antarctic krill
A chemical in Adélie penguin guano may have cued krill to take evasive maneuvers in lab tests.
- Animals
Some of Sydney’s koalas are chlamydia-free, but still at risk
Southwestern Sydney's koalas have avoided the chlamydia outbreak threatening the entire species. But their isolation has left them extremely inbred.
- Animals
The mystery of how iguanas crossed the Pacific Ocean may be solved
The iguanas' 8,000-kilometer trip — one-fifth of the Earth’s circumference — is the longest made by a flightless land vertebrate.
This small shark, called a rig or smoothhound, could be the first shark documented to make deliberate sounds.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032525_sm_shark-sounds_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032525_sm_shark-sounds_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
A protein unique to tardigrades (one shown here under a microscope) can help reduce DNA damage caused by radiation in mice.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031325_rs_tardigrade-proteins-radiation_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031325_rs_tardigrade-proteins-radiation_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
The South American tomato pinworm (Tuta absoluta) is damaging tomato plants on four continents. Adding silicon nanoparticles might be a solution to combat the pests.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032125_ss_tomato-pests_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032125_ss_tomato-pests_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra excavates a common coot nest he and colleagues collected in Amsterdam. City birds have been making their nests out of plastic waste for decades, the team’s research shows.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031825_di_plastic-bird-nests_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031825_di_plastic-bird-nests_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Smaller fish surround this great hammerhead shark. The sharks’ taste for different foods might have a surprising conservation impact.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032025_mh_hammerhead-diet-preference_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/032025_mh_hammerhead-diet-preference_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Gray seals (one shown) are aware of their blood oxygen levels and make diving decisions accordingly, a new study suggests.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031925_mp_seal-o2_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031925_mp_seal-o2_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
In lab experiments, Antarctic krill that smelled trouble — in the form of penguin poop — were quick to make a break for it.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031725_mt_krill_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031725_mt_krill_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Some koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) living in the Sydney metro area are isolated from other koalas, keeping them chlamydia-free. But the cost is being worryingly inbred.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031125_jb_isolated-koala-population_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031125_jb_isolated-koala-population_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
The ancestors of Fiji’s iguanas, such as the Fijian crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis, shown here), may have arrived in the islands by floating across the Pacific Ocean on vegetation over 30 million years ago.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031725_jb_Iguana-travel_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031725_jb_Iguana-travel_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1">