Pitcher Plant Used by Tree Shrew

A species of pitcher plant doubles as a lavatory for tree shrews in Borneo. (News source.)

Coral Eats Jellyfish

A mushroom coral has been photographed eating a moon jellyfish. (News source.)

Golden Eagles Hunt Reindeer

BBC filmmakers took footage of golden eagles attacking a reindeer calf in Finland, behavior which was anecdotal but never confirmed before now. (News source with video.) [via Kevin Stewart]

Strange Life

Sightings of "hammerhead worms" (actually terrestrial planarians) up to 14 inches in length are freaking out some Alabama folk. (News source.)

A strange "blob" in the ocean off Alaska's northern coast turns out to be mostly marine algae. (News source.)

And, some videos here on a moth that clicks to jam bat sonar.

Decoy Spiders

Some researchers in Taiwan suggest that a small orbweaver there, Cyclosa mulmeinensis, creates decoy spiders out of detritus to divert the attention of predators. (News source.)

"Stoned" Wallabies Make Crop Circles

Tasmanian wallabies have been getting into medicially-grown poppy fields, and end up high and hopping in circles. (News source.)

Wolf Spider Behavior

A few species of French wolf spiders have been found to survive underwater "drownings," reviving after several hours in "comas." (News source.)

Komodo Dragon Attack

A Rinca island park ranger was sitting at his desk in a hut, when a Komodo dragon entered and attacked him, causing injuries to his hand and foot. (News source.)

They're Getting Smarter...

It's fun to anthropomorphize otters...

Lamb vs Eagle

Amazingly, the lamb won... (News source.)

Immortal Critter

Turritopsis nutricula, a hydrozoan, may be as close as it gets to an "immortal" creature, reverting back to its juvenile polyp stage after mating. (News source and here.)

Ice-Nesting Mystery

A father/son team tracked down the bird species responsible for some mysterious nest built directly on the glacial ice in the high Andes. (News source.)

Vampire Moths

Nat Geo has details on an unknown population of "vampire moths" discovered in Siberia.

Shimmering Bees

Research on Asian giant honeybees' shimmering behavior continues... (Eurekalert)

Surviving Outer Space

Turns out some tartigrades ("water-bears") can survive exposure to outer space's extreme conditions. (News source.)

Vegetarian Spider

A jumping spider, Bagheera kiplingi, has been found (in populations in Mexico and Costa Rica) to feed on bits of acacia tree sprouting leaflets, dodging resident acacia-tree ants. (News source.)

Butterflies Remember

Turns out that a butterfly can remember training (shock-associated smells) it went through as a butterfly. (News source.)

Non-Vocal Sonation in a Hummingbird

Anna's hummingbird "chirps" and "whistles" with its tail during display dives during mating season. (News source.)

"Wind tunnel tests confirmed that the outer tail feathers vibrate like a reed in a clarinet. The bird's split-second tail spread at dive speed thus produces a loud, brief burst that sounds like a chirp or beep."

Killer Dolphins

Vacationers thought the dolphins were fishing for salmon, until they realized a small porpoise was being deliberately targeted and rammed. (News source.)

"Film taken of gangs of dolphins repeatedly ramming baby porpoises, tossing them in the air and pursuing them to the death has solved a long-term mystery of what causes the death of so many of these harmless mammals - but has left animal experts baffled as to the motive.
"Another mystery is that the animal 'murders' have only been reported in two parts of the world - along Scotland's East Coast and in America off the beaches of Virginia, where even more alarmingly, the victims were scores of the dolphins' own young."

The Man Who Lives With Crocodiles

A story from South Africa:

"The most amazing story was told to me by Boy Hancock, the ranger who took over Ndumu Game Reserve after we left. It was reported to him by the game guards, and Sigohlo was one of them — a trusty and reliable man.
"The guards were on patrol in the Reserve on the Pongolo where the new channel cuts through into Baga-Baga pan and past Nangri, an island, which the amaTonga swore was haunted. Dusk was falling as they made their way through the riverine forest when Sigohlo pointed to the river and they saw a man floating downstream with only his head above water. The guards shouted at him to get out quickly, for the river was alive with crocodiles. When the man was directly opposite the guards he grabbed an overhanging branch and half pulled himself out of the water. At that moment a crocodile head popped up behind him, and the guards watched in horror, expecting to see him pulled under. But the croc merely bumped its head against the man’s back. He turned round, gave the crocodile a gentle push with his hand, then climbed out. He looked at the guards once, grunted, and vanished into the reeds.
"An almost incredible story, but what made it ring true to me was the guards’ description of the crocodile bumping its head against the man’s back. This is how the crocodile behaves in the water. I had seen it on other occasions at Umfolozi when zebra had been taken in the Black Umfolozi River. There was also no earthly reason why three guards should make up a story like this. Boy Hancock questioned each one individually, but there were no discrepancies in their story.
"Boy also spoke to amaTonga living on the edge of the Salene forest, and they said this man was well known to them; he had merely gone wild and was living with the crocodiles."

An Octopus and Its Toy

A UK aquarium has a giant Pacific octopus who loves his Mr. Potato Head. A Christmas gift, the toy is a big hit; the octopus seems fascinated with it, and turns aggressive whenever staff tries to remove it. (News source.)

Chimp Geophagy

An interesting press release here, on geophagy (soil eating) in chimpanzees. An excerpt:

"The deliberate ingestion of soil, or ‘geophagy’, has important health benefits for chimpanzees, according to Sabrina Krief and her colleagues from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. Far from being a dysfunctional behavior, geophagy has evolved as a practice for maintaining health amongst chimpanzees. In this particular study (1), to be published online this week in Springer’s journal Naturwissenschaften, geophagy increases the potency of ingested plants with anti-malarial properties."

1. Krief S, Klein N & Fröhlich F (2008). Geophagy: soil consumption enhances the bioactivities of plants eaten by chimpanzees. Naturwissenschaften

Shark vs Kangaroo

A Geelong, Australia, man says he watched a kangaroo hop down to the beach and start swimming. About 80 meters from shore, the animal was struck by a 2-3m shark that leaped out of the water and struck it, pulling it under. No pics, unfortunately. (News source.)

North Carolina Predator

An unknown predator (canine or feline, uncertain) is killing goats (13 so far this month) in southern Davidson Co., NC. It has also killed sheep, cats, and dogs. (News source.)

Fox on a Bed

A UK woman found a year-old fox that had snuck in through a catflap, sleeping on her bed. When disturbed, it snuggled back into the blankets. An animal rescue is taking care of the fox until it can be released. (News source.)

Corals' "Eyes"

Primitive photoreceptors appear responsible for corals' responsiveness to moonlight in their annual synchronous spawning. (News source.)

Cowbird Mafia

Turns out cowbirds weren't merely duping the host birds into taking care of their eggs and offspring; it was blackmail, pure and simple. National Geographic News notes:

"Cowbird mothers keep watch on the nests where they've laid their eggs.
"If the birds find that their eggs have been destroyed or removed from the nest, the cowbirds retaliate, the study says.
"The birds reportedly destroy the host birds' eggs, pecking holes in them or carrying them out of the nest and dropping them on the ground."

Not all ornithologists are convinced by this new study, as the cowbirds' deprivations weren't caught in the act, but the proponents say they have ruled out all other possibilities.