Frogs are often thought of as animals with a two-part life: they hatch as tadpoles, then undergo metamorphosis into four-limbed adult frogs. Yet in the evolutionary history of Anura, many frogs have taken a different route. They have removed the tadpole stage from their life cycle, allowing the embryo to develop directly inside the egg into a small frog. This pattern is known as direct development. It is typically characterized by eggs laid in terrestrial environments. In som

Every movement an animal makes contains a wealth of quantifiable detail: the position of the nose, the angle of the limbs, the swing of the tail, shifts in the body's center of mass, and each episode of rearing, running, exploration, or stillness. All of these can serve as clues for understanding the nervous system, disease, animal welfare, and ecological adaptation. In the past, accurately tracking animal movement from video usually required researchers to select images, man

As more and more studies and observations have been conducted, scientists have discovered that many animals possess cognitive abilities far beyond what people once believed. Among the most remarkable examples are elephants. Not only do they possess complex social structures, but they also display many unusual behaviors. Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), for instance, have even been observed burying and mourning dead calves. These findings have led scientists to wonder what o

Pachylus is a Neotropical South American genus of harvestmen, named as early as 1839 and classified in the order Opiliones, family Gonyleptidae, subfamily Pachylinae. (Figure 1) Male Pachylus crassus（Image source：gatofans(ika)， CC BY-NC 4.0 ） Members of the genus are now regarded as largely restricted to central Chile. Earlier records had suggested that they also occurred in Argentina and Uruguay, but those reports were later shown to be erroneous. Shared features of Pachylus

The flight of winged reproductive termites, known as alates, marks a critical moment in the life of a colony. At a particular season, mature alates leave their original nest, fly to new locations, find mates, and attempt to establish new colonies. Many termites choose to undertake this risky journey during the rainy season or shortly after rainfall. The reason is practical: rain softens the soil, making it easier for newly landed alates to dig into the ground and begin life i

Many animals rely on visual information to interpret their surroundings, including detecting predators, locating prey, and identifying conspecifics. The extent to which sightlines can extend depends on habitat structure, including vegetation density, tree distribution, and topographic variation. Visibility can be defined as the spatial extent of all unobstructed sightlines originating from a given vantage point. This spatial extent determines both the amount and direction of

Honey bees are insects that collect nectar from flowers. They bring the nectar back to the hive, where it undergoes a series of processes and is ultimately converted into honey—a sweet food widely enjoyed by humans. Honey bees typically form large colonies, living together within a hive. Within the colony, different individuals perform different tasks, and naturally, a group of bees is responsible for nectar foraging. Bee（Image source：Gideon Pisanty (Gidip) גדעון פיזנטי， CC B

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), one of the largest living lizards, can reach a body mass of around 80 kilograms and inhabits several islands in Indonesia. Its prey includes large mammals such as deer and wild pigs. Its predatory ability does not rely solely on body size or bite force. Instead, its teeth are ziphodont, with serrated edges that effectively tear through skin and muscle, inflicting extensive soft tissue damage. Komodo dragon（Image source：Jakub Hałun， CC

In social groups formed by highly social animals, hierarchical structures are often present. Individuals compete with one another to defend or improve their status, and the winners are able to maintain or elevate their rank within the group. As a result, dominant positions in social groups are usually occupied by young and healthy individuals. However, exceptions do exist. For example, researchers once observed a male chimpanzee that had lost one arm due to polio, yet still a

When people first encounter accounts of feral children, what tends to seize their attention most readily are the outwardly strange details: children running with a wolf-like gait, communicating through barking, eating raw food, avoiding human company, and lacking language. These images are undeniably striking, yet they also invite misunderstanding. They can make the study of feral children seem like little more than a collection of bizarre tales from places where civilization