Chipmunks and Woodchucks Eavesdrop on Each Other

Chipmunks and woodchucks are entirely different rodent species, but they apparently speak the same language when it comes to alarm.

Despite belonging to a different genus, eastern chipmunks take heed of woodchucks’ alarm calls. To a lesser extent, woodchucks understand the warnings of chipmunks. Such inter-rodent understanding may not seem surprising, but both species are considered very solitary. They are not like prairie dogs that live in family groups.

Many creatures respond to their own species’ alarm calls, but interspecies comprehension is less documented. To see whether woodchucks and chipmunks responded to each other, scientists visited a nature preserve in Maine, recording their reactions to possible danger — both species share common enemies in red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and foxes — and to unthreatening chickadees.

Over the course of a few weeks scientists played the calls back on portable speakers. While woodchucks occasionally perked up to chipmunk squeaks, chipmunks were more attentive to woodchucks’ high-pitched whinnies. Sometimes the woodchuck alarms even sent chipmunks fleeing to their burrows.

To listen to the calls of both the woodchuck and chipmunk, read the original article here.

Both animals responded most to their own species’ alerts, but neither reacted much to crow alarms or chickadee songs.

Read more in the original article here.

Deepest-living land animal found

Worms have been found living at depths in the Earth where it was previously thought animals could not survive.

Discovered in South African mines, the roundworms can survive in the 118 degrees Fahrenheit water that seeps between cracks 1.3km beneath the Earth's crust.

The find has surprised scientists who, until now, believed only single-celled bacteria thrived at these depths.

The researchers found two species of worm. One is a new species to science, which the scientists have named Halicephalobus mephisto after Faust's Lord of the Underworld.

The other is a previously known roundworm known as Plectus aquatilis.

Read more in the original article here.

Emperor Penguins Rotate Through Giant Huddle for Warmth

Massive huddles of male Emperor penguins are crucial to keeping warm during Antarctica’s brutal winter while they incubate their eggs.

These tightly packed penguins shuffle en mass every 30 to 60 seconds, reordering themselves so every individual gets to cycle through the warm, central part of the huddle.

By taking small, 2- to 4-inch steps every minute or so, the penguins achieve maximum packing density. It’s like tapping on a can of flour to jiggle everything into the bottom.

But the shuffling also results in a wave of movement that rolls through the group and rotates every bird through the warmest parts of the huddle. Penguins can join the group on one end, cycle through the huddle and exit on the other end.

Read more in the original article here.

There's no such thing as a jellyfish

The video above is from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.  It illustrates how organisms commonly referred to as "jellyfish" are actually quite varied and diverse.  See the rest of the institute's videos here.