Explore life in the Universe with new postgraduate programme
18 Sep 2023A new postgraduate programme will train researchers to understand life's origins, search for habitable planets and consider the most profound question of all: are we alone?
News from the Department of Zoology.
Cost to protect globally important forests falls disproportionately on those living closest
17 Aug 2023Local communities are not incentivised to protect tropical forests that are hugely valuable for global climate regulation, a new study has found. International funding could help smallholder farmers to boost yields on their existing land to incentivise long-term forest protection.
Meet Cambridge's mussel man
10 Aug 2023How new ways of shellfish farming could help meet future food needs.
Stealth swimmers: fish hide behind others to hunt
07 Aug 2023An experiment on coral reefs provides the first evidence that predators use other animals for motion camouflage to approach their prey without detection.
Cracking the great cuckoo cover-up
26 Jul 2023African cuckoos may have met their match with the fork-tailed drongo, which scientists predict can detect and reject cuckoo eggs from their nest on almost every occasion, despite them on average looking almost identical to drongo eggs.
Small-winged and lighter coloured butterflies likely to be at greatest threat from climate change
13 Jul 2023The family, wing length and wing colour of tropical butterflies all influence their ability to withstand rising temperatures, say a team led by ecologists at the University of Cambridge. The researchers believe this could help identify species whose survival is under threat from climate change.
World’s most threatened seabirds visit remote plastic pollution hotspots
04 Jul 2023Analysis of global tracking data for 77 species of petrel has revealed that a quarter of all plastics potentially encountered in their search for food are in remote international waters – requiring international collaboration to address.
Birds and honey badgers could be cooperating to steal from bees in parts of Africa
29 Jun 2023The tale of two charismatic species cooperating for mutual benefit has captivated naturalists for centuries – but evidence has been patchy. Researchers have now carried out the first large-scale search for evidence.
Current conservation policies risk damaging global biodiversity, warn researchers
21 Jun 2023Rewilding, organic farming and the so-called ‘nature friendly farming’ measures included in some government conservation policies may accelerate global biodiversity loss, say two leading researchers.
Could bird flu spark the next pandemic - and are we prepared if it does?
13 Jun 2023Should we be worried about frequent news reports of flu being detected in birds and other animals?
