Richard Farrell

Read the latest articles by Richard Farrell at Seeker

Animals

Earth & Conservation

Thanks to special underwater cameras, scientists are getting a rare glimpse of dolphin life as it occurs far from the tour boats and smartphone-snapping hordes – from the animal's point of view.

Point-of-View Cameras Reveal the Hidden Lives of Dolphins

Researchers from Japan's Kyoto University have documented just the second case in chimpanzees of a genetic disorder similar to Down syndrome in humans.

'Down Syndrome' in Chimps Seen for Only the Second Time

Could endangered lemurs in Madagascar benefit from the same technology used to identify criminals?

Facial Recognition Tech Could Help Save Endangered Lemurs

Wisdom, the world's oldest known breeding and banded bird, first tagged in 1956, is still going strong in the fertility department.

A 66-Year-Old Albatross Is Still Making Babies

Ornithology researchers from Gettysburg College put technology to the test, when they studied the effectiveness of drones as a means to assess songbird populations, and the machines were up to the task.

Drones Are as Good as People at Counting Birds

Scientists have just decoded another bit of honey bee speech, and the newfound "word" the bees are buzzing is "whoop."

Honey Bees Cry 'Whoop' When They Collide

The oldest venomous vertebrate yet found was a small-dog-sized early relative of mammals named Euchambersia that lived some 260 million years ago, according to findings just published in the journal PLOS One by scientists from University of the Witwatersrand (WITS).

Early Mammal Relative Was the Oldest Venomous Animal on Earth

The winning entries have been announced in the annual Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.

'Dancing Octopus' Wins Top Honors in Underwater Photo Contest

The Sawmill Sink hole, on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, had something special waiting at the bottom for divers from the University of Florida: the 1,000-year-old skeleton of an extinct tortoise species, one so well preserved it yielded its ancient DNA intact.

Ancient Tropical Tortoise Found in a Deep Blue Sinkhole in the Bahamas

Sometimes you can know a lot about a thing, except where it is.

Scanning for Blue Whales in the Ocean Just Got a Lot Easier

An ancient breed of shepherd dog native to the Carpathian Mountains of Romania has been reintroduced in a part of its home country to do what it does best: guard livestock.

Ancient Sheepdog Breed Returns to Romanian Landscape to Fend Off Wolves

Reversible saliva and a super-soft tongue work together to help frogs snare their prey at lightning speed and then hold onto their meals.

Point-of-View Cameras Reveal the Hidden Lives of Dolphins

Off the coast of New Zealand, high-tech video gear attached to the swift cetaceans helps scientists glimpse little-seen behaviors such as mother-calf interaction.

'Down Syndrome' in Chimps Seen for Only the Second Time

A 24-year-old female chimpanzee in Japan has a genetic disorder not observed in her species since 1969, one that looks similar to Down syndrome in humans.

Facial Recognition Tech Could Help Save Endangered Lemurs

A new system to identify the primates earns high scores for accuracy, offering the promise of better long-term tracking data to inform conservation strategies.

A 66-Year-Old Albatross Is Still Making Babies

The legendary Wisdom, the world's oldest banded bird, has returned to her home base on Midway Atoll to raise another chick.

Drones Are as Good as People at Counting Birds

A new study compares traditional, ground-based bird surveys against unmanned aerial vehicles rigged with audio recorders.

Honey Bees Cry 'Whoop' When They Collide

A vibration message formerly understood to be a warning signal to the colony turns out to have another meaning as well.

Early Mammal Relative Was the Oldest Venomous Animal on Earth

A dog-sized creature from 260 million years ago named Euchambersia had the anatomical features necessary to deliver a payload of poison, new research finds.

'Dancing Octopus' Wins Top Honors in Underwater Photo Contest

A dazzling cavern and a close-up of an orca pod help round out the visual feast.

Ancient Tropical Tortoise Found in a Deep Blue Sinkhole in the Bahamas

The Sawmill Sink yields a well-preserved skeleton and shell that allow researchers to obtain DNA samples

Scanning for Blue Whales in the Ocean Just Got a Lot Easier

A new tool from the NOAA applies years worth of blue whale data to areas of the sea where little is known about the creatures.

Ancient Sheepdog Breed Returns to Romanian Landscape to Fend Off Wolves

The Carpathian shepherd dog is being reintroduced to key portions of the country where predators are regularly attacking livestock.

Slo-Mo Video Shows Frog's Sticky Saliva Snaring Prey

A super-soft tongue and spit that changes properties combine to help amphibians hang onto food and may even help people create new adhesives.