Featured Lessons from the insect world: How do ant colonies fight disease?
Taking a lesson from our ants, we should put our own interests aside, cooperate and do what is necessary to mitigate the spread and impact...
Category : Animal Science
The UCT prof who helped save the bluefin tuna
Later this month, Professor Doug Butterworth will be formally honoured by the Emperor of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun for contributing to...
Legs gets an extra (3D printed) leg
A secretary bird called Legs is the first raptor in South Africa to sport a 3D-printed prosthesis. It was designed by some of the South...
Explainer: What’s behind the rabies outbreak in SA?
by AdminBraai
In the last four months five cases of rabies in humans have been reported in South Africa, and an additional two cases are probable. The country’s National...
Whiskers tell what’s on a lion’s menu
World Wildlife Day is celebrated on 3 March. This year the spotlight falls on the world’s big cats. New research by South African researchers have...
Picking a rhino’s brain
Is a black rhino’s brain similar to that of a white rhino? Not quite, according to researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand. They say...
The Case of the Drinking Aardvark
Scientists do not always get their aha moments when they implicitly set out to find one. Serendipity often comes into play, which then warrants further...
New puff adder behaviour uncovered: it uses two ways to entice its prey
by AdminBraai
Puff adders display diverse predatory strategies. This shows they have higher cognitive abilities than previously though. This is according to University of the Witwatersrand researchers Xavier...
A rethink about giraffes
If you thought that all giraffes were created equal, think again. Yes, based on their looks they all seem pretty much the same, but their...
In tough times young mice take things slow
When the going gets tough, the young slow down and the old keep going. That’s what happens to African striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio) in times...