Cat owners know the last place you want to see your feline friend is on a shelf. That’s the best place for them to mindlessly knock stuff over! But soon you won’t have to worry about one special kitty being up there, because that’s where they’ll belong. LEGO’s new Tuxedo Cat is a stationary pet who won’t do any damage to your other collectibles.

The newest LEGO Ideas set is the 1,710-piece Tuxedo Cat ($99.99). Designed for ages 18 and up, this poseable black and white kitten comes with two sets of eyes, yellow and blue. You can also change its expression. But what this set doesn’t include might be the most attractive. As the toy company points out, unlike a real cat this LEGO one means “no shedding, no knocking things down, no litter box.”

To celebrate its new build, LEGO even turned its Twitter account over to the cat itself, much to the delight of the internet.

You will have to wait roughly 60 days before yours ships, though, which is only fitting. Cats love to take their time getting anywhere you actually want them to be.

The post This LEGO Ideas Tuxedo Cat Will Silently Sass You appeared first on Nerdist.

LEGO and Star Wars frequently team up on the screen, but a new LEGO special is really mixing things up. LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy shows a galaxy where space and time have fallen apart. The pieces crumble and put unlikely characters in equally unlikely situations. That means, among other things, we finally get to see Darth Jar Jar.

Hearing “Mesa going to hurts yousa” in Ahmed Best’s familiar Jar Jar voice was not on our Bingo card.

The synopsis for the special says:

In “LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy,” the entire Star Wars Galaxy gets completely mixed up when an ordinary nerf-herder, Sig Greebling (Gaten Matarazzo), unearths a powerful artifact from a hidden Jedi temple. He finds himself thrust into adventure in a new, wondrously wild and twisted version of the galaxy where good guys are bad, bad guys are good, and the fate of all depends on Sig becoming the hero who can put all the pieces back together.

The special has one heck of a voice cast. Gaten Matarazzo (Sig Greebling), Tony Revolori (Dev Greebling), Bobby Moynihan (Jedi Bob), Marsai Martin (Yesi Scala), Michael Cusack (Servo), Ahmed Best (Darth Jar Jar), and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) all appear.

LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy has four parts. All of them debut on Disney+ on September 13.

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“I hate snakes, Jock. I HATE ‘EM.” From the opening moments of Raiders of the Lost Ark, we learned archaeologist Indiana Jones had one big fear. He really did not care for snakes. All four subsequent Indiana Jones films have played off this aspect of his character in one form or another, and everyone knows snakes are to Indy what Kryptonite is to Superman. Now, a newly discovered species of snake has been named for Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Say hello to Tachymenoides harrisonfordi.

Researchers discovered this new species of snake in the Andes mountains of Peru—a place Indiana Jones got into many a scrape. The Tachymenoides harrisonfordi is a type of slender snake that measures 16 inches long, and is pale yellowish-brown with scattered black blotches. It also has a black belly and a vertical streak over its copper-colored eye, perfect for camouflage. Honestly, that color scheme all sounds very Indiana Jones-y to us. This discovery was a joint collaboration between researchers from Peru and the United States, and thus far has only turned up one male snake.

Technically, the researchers named this snake for Harrison Ford as a way of honoring his environmental advocacy. Ford is, after all, the vice chair of Conservation International. But we know that’s just part of it. This is actually not the first time Harrison Ford has had a newly discovered species named after him. There are ants and spiders too, which fans know Indy encountered in creepy crawly scenes in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Temple of Doom.

So what does the 81-year-old icon think of this? In a statement, Ford said “These scientists keep naming critters after me, but it’s always the ones that terrify children. I don’t understand. I spend my free time cross-stitching. And I sing lullabies to my basil plants, so they won’t fear the night. In all seriousness, this discovery is humbling. It’s a reminder that there’s still so much to learn about our wild world — and that humans are one small part of an impossibly vast biosphere. On this planet, all fates are intertwined, and right now, one million species are teetering on the edge of oblivion. We have an existential mandate to mend our broken relationship with nature and protect the places that sustain life.”

Sometimes, Harrison is wise as well as crotchety. That’s why we love him.

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Glassfrogs got their name because their bellies are as see-through as Cinderella’s slipper. From below, you can even see their internal organs and bones. This may not sound like the best strategy to stay safe, but it turns out that in order to camouflage, the frogs can pull most of their blood out of their veins. This means they don’t cast any shadows when clinging to the underside of leaves (obligatory cute sleepy frog photo below) when they sleep during the day. The glassfrogs manage to move 89% of their blood into their liver before nodding off. Then they redistribute it throughout their body when they wake up, without any ill effects. Understanding the process could lead to advances in how we treat blood clots in humans.

The frogs are generally nocturnal and need a way to hide from predators when they sleep during the day. They’re green on top to blend in. But in the lab, they cling to a petri dish instead of a leaf. The scientific study, which we saw in Smithsonian Magazine, uses lasers and sound waves to see inside the glassfrogs in a noninvasive way. The team included researchers at multiple universities and the American Museum of Natural History.

As shown in the image above (right), blood is distributed throughout the body when the frog is under anesthesia. But if the frog goes to sleep naturally, as shown on the left, the blood is mostly in the liver. The map of its blood vessels is much more faint because there’s only a small fraction of blood left in the rest of its body. The peer-reviewed journal Science published the results.

For more frog science, check out the pumpkin toadlets that aren’t very good at jumping. Or learn more about the mutual benefits of frog and tarantula friendships.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

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The goblin shark is one of the strangest animals in the deep ocean, and that’s really saying something. In a dark world of wild wonders, the goblin shark’s long nose really stands out. Unlike what people typically think of as a shark silhouette, its snout extends well beyond its jaws. That is, until the goblin shark snaps up prey. It can extend its jaws forward to grab prey like deep sea fish and squid. The video below from National Geographic shows slow-motion video of goblin sharks gobbling food in this very alien way.

There’s limited information about goblin sharks because they live in the deep sea and don’t interact much with humans. Only recently have scientists managed to filmed them eating and learn more about their behavior. Most of the sightings are sharks 10 to 13 feet long, though they can likely grow to be more than 20 feet. Goblin sharks are referred to as living fossils, with similar species dating as far back as 125 million years. Many other interesting sharks lived during that time, though many lines have since died out and are known only from fossils. 

So what is that giant beak used for? Shark snouts in general have sensors on them, and the goblin shark’s sizeable one is no exception. It helps them sense even weak electric fields of the world around them. Goblin sharks, which we learned about on Boing Boing, aren’t the only strange-looking deep sea shark. But they do have the most remarkable schnozz of any we’ve seen.

Some other remarkable facts we’ve learned about sharks recently include that Greenland sharks live to be more than 500 years old and there’s a glow in the dark shark in New Zealand. Whether or not you have a favorite shark, there’s no denying the goblin shark’s snoot is the most boop-able.  

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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190 is an aspirational age. For any living thing on land, it turns out. Because 190 is the age of the current oldest living land animal. Jonathan, a giant tortoise. And a King. Who happens to be pansexual.

Guinness World Records, who conferred this honor onto Jonathan shares:

Jonathan is believed to have been born c. 1832, thus making him 190 years old in 2022. Jonathan’s age is an estimation based on the fact that he was fully mature, and hence at least 50 years old, when he arrived in St Helena from the Seychelles in 1882. In all likelihood, he is even older than we think.

Around 1886, nearly 140 years ago, Jonathan was captured on camera. But honestly, he hasn’t aged a day. In recent photos, we can barely tell nearly two decades have passed. That’s what being awesome will do for you. Although age is catching up him a bit, Jonathan is generally living his best life. He has outlived his species by approximately 40 years, after all. And maybe even more than that. “Giant tortoises generally live up to around 150 years,” Teeny Lucy of the St. Helena SPCA shared with PetaPixel. But “he is doing very well… He has a very good appetite.”

Healthy appetites are important for a good life. And our oldest living land animal is thriving in other ways too. “In spite of his age, Jonathan still has good libido and is seen frequently to mate with Emma and sometimes Fred–animals are often not particularly gender-sensitive!” Lucy shares.

Listen, the old adage is, with age comes wisdom. And our pansexual tortoise king is making it clear. Life is too short (especially if you aren’t Jonathan), to not follow your heart. We should all aspire to emulate Jonathan in our lives. Jonathan the giant tortoise spends most of his life munching, loving, and napping. That feels like the secret to a good long life. Of course, there are sea animals who are even older than Jonathan, but we may find it hard to emulate them.

On December 4, 2022, Jonathan officially reached the age of 190, and now he is 190 and two days. We can’t wait to celebrate 191 with him. To honor Jonathan and his important milestone, the island of St. Helena, where this oldest living land animal resides, held a three-day-long birthday celebration. This birthday party included an animated video and song about Jonathan’s long existence, a commemorative stamp, and a healthy birthday cake for the tortoise made of his favorite veggies.

So when you wonder about that third nap, just think WWJD? And make like our oldest living land animal. Cheers to you, Jonathan. May it be 200 more.

Originally published January 27, 2022.

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Even if you’re more of a dog person, a cute kitty close-up brightens any day. In this case, a small wild cat called a margay investigates a camera set up by Hoja Nueva, a wildlife research and rescue center in Peru. In a biodiversity hotspot with more than 100 different mammals and 700 species of birds, their infrared and motion sensor cameras capture many adorable and insightful behaviors. The center’s Instagram feed is full of cute rainforest animals and how they spend their lazy days and warm, tropical nights.

Hoja Nueva‘s founder Samantha Zwicker is an ecologist dedicated to rescuing native critters and releasing them back into the wild. She has a team of biologists, veterinarians, and interns to help run the center. They care for more than just cats, including species like the baby tapir below. Her name is Eywa, after the Mother Nature-like deity in Avatar. And she’s not the only pop culture-inspired critter. There’s also Keanu, a rescued baby ocelot, and Loki, a mischievous margay.

Zwicker and her team set up grids of the cameras, sometimes as many as 120 at a time. The resulting videos, apart from being cute, provide information about how many animals live there and how much territory they cover. The researchers can tell most animals apart based on their markings. They’re in the process of publishing their findings.

The red brocket deer and her calf in the above video will be relatable to anyone who’s ever had a child in tow while doing chores or running errands. And the squirrel monkeys below seem to ham it up for the cameras.

“It’s a very noninvasive way to study wild animals,” says Zwicker. “You get this secret view into their lives. It’s amazing for research, but it’s also just amazing to be able to feel like you’re a part of this world in a very natural way.”

Check out Zwicker’s YouTube channel for more trail camera videos. You can also support Hoja Nueva’s important mission by donating time or money. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Ant-Man may not be the most far-fetched superhero, but powers that include changing sizes and leading an army of ants doesn’t exactly make him the most realistic either. But the tiny insects themselves have some outsized (one might even call them super) powers of their own. As seen in the video below, they sometimes team up to build bridges made entirely out of their fellow ants. When they need to get across a gap, they latch together to make it happen. Scott Lang ran across a bridge of fire ants during his training montage in the movie Ant-Man and it turns out that part at least is pretty realistic. Will we see the impressive feat again in the upcoming sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?

If you were mesmerized by all those tiny ant bodies scurrying over a bridge made out of their fellow insects, you may have missed some other fun facts about ants in the video. There’s now about eight billion people on Earth and something like ten thousand trillion ants. Apparently, the two populations weigh roughly the same amount. The instinctual cooperative behavior shown among the ants is remarkable. That is, if you don’t get the heebie-jeebies seeing all those insects.  

The army ants in the video are just one of the many species of ants, all of which have adapted in different ways. Some others also form bridges or ropes to raid food sources like beehives. Perhaps most dramatically, wood ants have been known to turn to cannibalism in extreme circumstances. 

While we’re getting more Ant-Man content soon, it turns out we could have had even more fighting insects in the MCU. Concept art shows an army of ants joining the climactic battle in Avengers: Endgame, though the sequence didn’t make the final cut.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

The post Ants Use Their Bodies to Build Bridges in the Air appeared first on Nerdist.

Posing awkwardly for an X-ray is nothing new. Most people have had to unnaturally rotate an arm or hold those uncomfortable bite-wings in our mouths at the dentist. But have you ever thought about what it looks like when veterinarians need to take X-rays of small animals ? Turns out they tape the animals down so they can get a clear picture of what’s wrong with them. Even though we know the hamsters and hedgehogs below are safe and well cared for, they look quite sad and pathetic. And Poor Sonic, they’d probably have to take all his rings away to get a clear X-ray. The hamster in the video below has cheek pouches full of food that are emptied out to get a proper look. We’ll bet she was annoyed when she woke up all groggy and didn’t have a snack on hand.

The vet techs also anesthetize the critters before the X-rays. They place the animals in a box and pump in the gas. It’s not a view you usually get of pets, their limbs all sprawled out. The hedgehog especially is quite a shock, with its naked pink belly. What makes it really pathetic is their tiny little mouths agape. But we know it’s important for these animals to get proper care so hopefully this brief invasion of privacy helps them get better.  

We learned about this on The Mary Sue. Even though we hope all pets never need an X-ray, it’s nice to know there’s a procedure mapped out to help them. And it turns out that tiny test subjects have also helped the development of even better X-rays for humans.

If you need a pallet cleanser after looking at those sweet little critters, there’s tons of fun videos of hamsters running around in maze obstacle courses that look like something out of American Ninja Warrior.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Is your pet named after your favorite TV show or movie character? According to the pet sitting website Rover, lots of people name their pets from pop culture, but also favorite foods, cocktails, and sports. They put together list of popular dog and cat names every year. Here’s the best from 2022’s list. Now we want to see these pets in cosplay.

Stranger Things

Pets named after all of the many main characters from Stranger Things saw a boost. Erica gained the most popularity for dogs while El was the most popular with cats (bald sphynx cats, we assume). Hopper, Joyce, and the others all made the list. New for 2022—the name Vecna for cats and Kate Bush for dogs.

House of the Dragon

Thanks to the Game of Thrones prequel, dogs named Daemon went up 45% and Targaryen nearly tripled in popularity. While we haven’t seen photos of these dogs, we assume they all have long flowing blonde hair. Hightower also entered the list for the first time.

Star Wars

You had to know that Baby Yoda would keep on trending. It’s up only 5% for dogs but 125% for cats. Meanwhile, Grogu is up for dogs but down for cats. Other names from a galaxy far, far away include the popular Fett and Fennec. Rancor made the list for both dogs and cats for the first time.

Other Fun Names

Ted Lasso made the list for dogs for the first time in 2022. Roy Kent sounds more like a cat name due to his gruff and elusive nature. And while the name Bella fell from number one to number two female dog name overall, the name Taco Bella popped up in the list.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. For what it’s worth, her dog is named Minion. She moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Put on those vintage red and blue 3D glasses, settle in with a bucket of your favorite snack, and get ready to enjoy a movie, just like the good old days. But in this case, the audience members are all cuttlefish and they prefer shrimp over popcorn. The videos are also about shrimp, not the usual 3D gimmicks. In order to study how the complicated eyes of these ocean animals work, scientists outfitted them with their very own version of 3D glasses. It’s serious science that looks quite silly.

This research, which we saw in Smithsonian Magazine, came out in 2020 but is making the rounds again. According to the researchers, their cuttlefish test subjects only learned to tolerate the bulky 3D glasses when rewarded with lots of shrimp to snack on. Once the experiments got underway, it was clear that cuttlefish use stereo vision just like humans. This means they use the differences between what each eye sees in order to provide depth perception and successfully snatch prey with their tentacles. In the video below, you can see that the cuttlefish backs up or moves forward depending on where the 3D glasses project the shrimp. 

Stereo vision was long thought to be exclusive to mammals. But now we know that both cuttlefish and praying mantises enjoy a trip to the 3D theater as well. Cuttlefish have complicated eyes with W-shaped pupils and scientists aren’t sure yet how their brains process vision. Meanwhile, their octopus relatives are known to be quite clever and have rectangular pupils that inspired Jordan Peele’s design for the alien in Nope.  

Science Advances published the open access peer-reviewed article about cuttlefish watching 3D movies. It isn’t the first cuttlefish research we’ve come across. Scientists also ran experiments similar to the famous “Marshmallow test” that many human children fail. Cuttlefish, however, will skip a snack when they know their favorite dish is coming later. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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What would you do if a giant octopus approached you and went in for a hug? Scuba diver Andrea Humphreys stood her ground and accepted the affection on a recent dive. She has been out in the water near Campbell River, on the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, hundreds of times. But this outing is particularly memorable because a giant Pacific octopus wrapped itself around her and her diving partner. It’s the largest species in the world, with an arm span up to 30 feet across! The one Humphreys encountered played nice, investigating her camera as she squealed with delight (which you can hear in the video below). Humphreys even says she ended up with an octopus hickey from the suckers.  

We saw this friendly octopus on Laughing Squid and are perfectly happy to experience the once-in-a-lifetime wildlife encounter secondhand. With another soundtrack, the same video could certainly be part of a horror movie. Humphreys also posted a second video as the octopus continued to engage with her and her dive partner over the course of their 40 minute sojourn under the surface. From her account, the octopus wasn’t acting aggressively and didn’t change colors or posture, which it might do if it was feeling threatened. Like other species, the giant Pacific octopus can also camouflage its color and texture if it wants to hide.

There are so many weird and wonderful species of octopus all over the world. If you can’t get out to the ocean to try for your very own sighting, check out a local aquarium instead and wave hello to the friendly cephalopod. There’s also plenty of other videos of wild octopus we’ve enjoyed recently, including gloomy octopuses in Australia throwing things at each other like grumpy siblings. There’s also an amazing deep sea species that balloons up like a circus tent to ward off predators.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Humans can’t help but move to the music and it turns out that rats have the same instinct. Without even realizing it, we move our heads along to the beat, a behavior long thought to be exclusively human. But scientists have discovered rats do the same thing. Yes, it’s true: rats have rhythm. The rodents even keep time at the same rhythm as humans, 120-140 beats per minute. So when the researchers played songs like “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, “Beat It” by Michael Jackson, and “Sugar” by Maroon 5, along with Mozart, the rats bopped their heads along just the same as the humans in the study. Check out their dance moves in the video below.

The peer-reviewed journal Science Advances published this open access research, which we first saw on NPR. The study mentions that anecdotes about animals with rhythm have existed for years. However, this is the first scientific experiment that shows it off.

Y. Ito et al., Science Advances (2022)

Scientists started by putting accelerometers on the heads of both rats and humans. Then they played Mozart at various speeds from 75-400% of normal. At some point neither rats nor humans could keep up and head jerking decreased as the tempo of the music increased. This shows that keeping the beat is a factor of how quickly our brains can respond, which is similar across species. How quickly our bodies react, however, is wildly different. So the fact that we respond similarly to music means both humans and rats are processing it in the brain and not the body. It also indicates a genetic aspect of rhythm. Future studies could go on to investigate dancing and why some people are so bad at it.  

What we’d like to see is how rats respond to the “Weird Al” Yankovic parody songs, considering three out of four modern music selections come from his catalog.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Don’t make me come back there! Scientists have observed octopuses acting like siblings in the backseat of a car on a long road trip, throwing things at each other and playing the “I’m not touching you” game as well as any human. The gloomy octopus is generally solitary, but a lot of them live in Jervis Bay, Australia. This consortium of octopuses (yes, that is the collective noun) seem to get annoyed with the high density accommodations and toss silt at each other. It is not a neighborly thing to do and we’re sure Mr. Rogers would not approve. 

Scientists watched more than 20 hours of octopus videos and found that there’s as much drama in Jervis Bay as on any Real Housewives show. Octopuses are very smart, sentient creatures. Though it’s easy to anthropomorphize that they squabble with their neighbors when they get too close, the team worked to understand the purpose behind the behavior. They rated each throw in order to identify the purpose behind it. They found that the octopus’ body was generally a uniform color versus mottled when they threw silt at their neighbor. Octopuses can change their coloration quickly depending on their mood and camouflage needs. The scientists also rated how vigorous the throw was and noticed that the other octopus sometimes ducked. 

Octopuses do toss shells, silt, and algae to clear space for themselves but the scientists are pretty sure they also direct it towards nearby octopuses on purpose. Some even threw things at the camera when it was set up too close to their den. Though it’s not actually a throw using their arms. Rather, they toss items away by pushing water through their siphon. 

The scientists shared their research in the open access peer-reviewed PLoS ONE. The paper, titled “In the line of fire: Debris throwing by wild octopuses,” includes video of these interactions. We first saw the news in Nature. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Dogs need a lot of stimulation and sometimes we humans are just too busy. The company Joipaw is trying to fill that need. It makes a series of video games for dogs and even has a console that dispenses treats when they complete a level. Playing games can keep your best friend interested when you’re at work. It also helps avoid separation anxiety and fights the risk of doggie dementia as they age. The video below shows some very good doggos testing out a version of Whac-A-Mole. No, the dogs don’t lift a mallet, they play by pressing the screen with their nose.

If you don’t have the time to set up elaborate challenge games with your doggos to keep them occupied, you can sign up for a Joipaw console of your own. The product is still being developed but will hopefully be available to the masses soon. There’s also a pinball and counting game. It includes a wearable fitness tracker and a phone app so you can monitor your fur baby’s progress and control the treat supply.  

We learned about this on DesignTAXI. Sadly, the video is short. We could watch dogs nose those video game moles all morning. Cleaning the screen of all those nose prints must be an unending task, though. According to Joipaw, during their testing phases, dogs kept playing the games even after the session was over and the treats stopped flowing. That’s good news for pet owners whose dogs aren’t food motivated.

This product feels like the inevitable next step after scientists determined that board games lower the risk of dementia in humans. There are plenty of educational video games but studies show that even playing regular video and virtual reality games helps improve memory as we age. Researchers have also found that lab-grown human brain cells can learn to play Pong, so why not dogs?

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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The internet was made for cat videos. This meta video of a cat watching cat videos seems almost inevitable. The @_cat_riki TikTok channel is dedicated to sphynx cat content, including the kitty scrolling through the internet looking just like the rest of us. While his owner holds their cell phone, Riki paws away at the screen. In the video below, it’s all cat content. He pauses on a post to watch another fluffier kitty eat kibbles, but otherwise quickly swipes down on each video.

The channel’s other excellent naked kitty content includes short clips of Riki purring, yawning, and stalking his human. Normal cat stuff. There’s also another cell phone scrolling video. Posted only a few days earlier, it quickly amassed millions of views. But that was before the curated content, as it just looks like your basic social media feed.

Having a kitty take over your phone is one way to help limit screen time. But does it only work because Riki is a hairless cat? I tried it out on my very fluffy cat and, even though he looked at me like I was crazy, his paw can still scroll. Seems like cell phones recognize cat toe beans as fingers.

We saw this excellent cat TikTok video on Boing Boing. According to a Newsweek article about it, cats can see what’s on our phone screen. At least enough to see lights and movement, which we know they like to make into toys. There are even video games designed for cats! The CATS TV YouTube channel has a bunch to keep your kitty playing. And then there’s Stray, the video game where you play as a cat. The online game Mission Meow, developed by a global animal health company with veterinarian assistance, helps humans understand cat behavior and signs we may be missing.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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Many people just found out that flashlight fish exist, thanks to the viral tweet below. The glowing fish have lights under their eyes that blink on and off. But it turns out that there’s even more weird stuff to learn about them. The light organs below their eyes are filled with a symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria that can glow different colors. Scientists still research how and why flashlight fish use this light to eat, mate, and escape predators.

There are actually multiple species of flashlight fish found around the world and their light organs all work a bit differently. Some species turn the light on and off by blinking an eyelid-like membrane over it. Others cover the light by rotating their light organ into a dark pouch.

Flashlight fish favor dark environments like caves and overhangs. In those conditions, they end up looking like a pair of spooky glowing eyes with no body, as in the video above. It makes sense that their prey, tiny plankton, would be attracted to the light and come in for a closer look.

In regular daylight, they look like a basic black and grey fish with a normal round eye. But even in semi-dark conditions like the video above, the large bean-shaped light begins to glow. They take on a much more alien-like form.

We’ll go ahead and add the flashlight fishes to the long and ever-growing list of weird ocean animals we’ve learned about. There’s also the jawless hagfish that release slime to escape predators, blind cave-dwelling fish that “speak” with regional accents, and of course the barreleye fish and its translucent head. So why not a fish with a blinking light that’s actually a symbiotic relationship that we don’t entirely understand? That seems almost normal in comparison.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Flashlight Fish Wear Glow-in-the-Dark Bacteria Eyeliner appeared first on Nerdist.

Put that toad down. Yes, you. In “should we really have to tell you this?” news, the National Park Service warns against licking toads. It turns out the toad, a Sonoran Desert toad, secretes a toxin that can have psychedelic effects. Those effects can also be deadly. So, the National Park Service is here to tell us to stop licking toads. It is not worth the risk. Their social media posts with the warning use an effectively spooky image of a toad with glowing eyes captured by a motion sensor camera. We learned about this post from Neatorama, with even more information coming from NPR.

Along with the amusing image comes the warning: “As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking.”

The National Poison Control Center says licking toads for possible psychedelic effects was a fad in the ’80s. These days, people seem to be more into smoking the toad’s secretions. Either way, leave the toads alone.

Along with the very important advice to not lick this toad, the post goes into what toad calls sound like. And you know what? It’s kind of like a fart. The caption says, “Its call has been described as a ‘weak, low-pitched toot, lasting less than a second.’ Was that the toad or did something startle you?” So if you’re eating beans around a campfire in New Mexico or Arizona, where the toads are found, go ahead and blame them for any sounds you make. Just keep your dog away from them too, as the toxin is very dangerous. 

It turns out that the National Park Service really does have to tell people everything. And they often do so in humorous ways that go viral. Unlike much of social media, the accounts always share good advice, like how to avoid bear attacks. There’s also other wholesome content like celebrating Fat Bear Week. So yes, you should absolutely follow the organization immediately.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post For Goodness’ Sake, Don’t Lick This Toad, National Park Service Says appeared first on Nerdist.

Every animal on this planet adapted to survive based on where they live. A well-known example is the group of so-called Darwin’s finches on the Galápagos Islands. There are 14 difference species that all evolved from a common ancestor and have different beak shapes based on what they eat. And while you may have learned that some eat seeds while others eat insects, the wildest is the vampire ground finch. It uses its sharp beak to draw blood from other birds, as seen in the video below. They perch on much-larger seabirds called boobies and pull out their feathers, pecking at their skin until they bleed.

Another of the finch’s feeding strategies is to roll other bird’s eggs into rocks until they break open and feast on those. They also eat the usual seeds and insects, and even drink nectar. But they have had to resort to these more drastic measures since there is no reliable source of fresh water on the remote Wolf and Darwin Islands where they live. It may have even started as a mutually beneficial relationship, with the finches removing lice from the booby’s skin. But at some point they developed a taste for blood.

Scientists originally categorized the vampire finch as a subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch present on other islands. But it has recently been declared its own species and officially named the vampire ground finch. Scientists who study them report the birds have bellies full of blood and beaks stained red, so it may be a large part of their diet.  

Vampire finches are not the only animal to act like they’re in horror movies. While they doesn’t feast on blood, cassowaries are quite scary. Even though human ancestors kept them as pets, the flightless Australian birds are basically still dinosaurs. There are of course also vampire bats that snack on blood. And even if it weirds us out, at least these vampires have an ecological niche to fill.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Vampire Finches Feast on the Blood of Other Birds appeared first on Nerdist.

Ever see something spider-shaped out of the corner of your eye and panic, only to have it turn out to be something else? In the case of Cyclosa spiders, you might see a large spider sitting in its web and then realize it’s not a spider at all. Instead, it’s a big spider decoy made out of insect carcasses and other debris. But there is still a spider in that web, it’s just much smaller. The fake versions likely help keep predators away. But they probably still give people quite a fright.  

Cyclosa spiders are also called trashline orbweavers. It’s a group of nearly 200 species that live around the world. Many of them incorporate debris into their web but so far there’s only two known to design those decorations into decoy spider effigies.

Scientists only discovered both species about 10 years ago, one in the Peruvian Amazon and one in the Philippines that was first found around the same time. While the spider in Peru tends to build doppelgangers with legs pointing down, the one in the Philippines builds faux spiders with their legs spread out radially. Those two places are 11,000 miles of Pacific Ocean apart so it’s likely an example of convergent evolution, where similar pressure on the spiders caused them to evolve this trick to ward off predators.

Though they’re not my favorite subject, it seems like there are a lot of interesting spiders out there to write about. The only cute thing I’ve ever seen a spider do is twitch in its sleep while it dreams. Well, that and make friends with frogs. And the most horrifying video I’ve seen of spiders recently wasn’t really their fault. It was humans who turned dead spiders into gripping tools that are terrifying to see in action. So maybe spiders aren’t really that bad after all.  

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post These Spiders Built a Massive Decoy Spider Out of Carcasses appeared first on Nerdist.

It turns out even worker bees know how to cut loose. A group of scientists used a rolling ball experiment to determine that bumblebees play just like other animals. As with humans, dogs, and dolphins, younger bees played more than older ones. Males rolled the balls more than females, which probably has to do with their respective roles in the hive. Female bumblebees bring food back to the group. Males, however, have less responsibility and usually leave to forage only for themselves. Watch the bumblebees at play in the below video.

“It is certainly mind-blowing, at times amusing, to watch bumble bees show something like play,” says the study’s lead author, Ph.D. student Samadi Galpayage, in a news release. “They approach and manipulate these ‘toys’ again and again. It goes to show, once more, that despite their little size and tiny brains, they are more than small robotic beings. This sort of finding has implications to our understanding of sentience and welfare of insects and will, hopefully, encourage us to respect and protect life on Earth ever more.”    

Scientists have strict guidelines to follow, even when it comes to games. So, five things have to be true in order for behavior to be considered play. There has to be no obvious survival reason for the activity and it has to be different from behaviors like eating and mating. Play also has to be voluntary and repeated, and it has to happen in a relaxed environment.

Through their experimental design, the research team demonstrates all five aspects and determines the bees rolling on wooden balls counts as play. They published the study in the peer-reviewed journal Animal Behaviour, which we saw thanks to IFL Science. 

We know plenty of animals play. Part of the reason the internet exists is so that we can watch dogs, cats, otters, dolphins, and other critters frolic. And with the recent news that bees can count, maybe it’s not that surprising that after all that math they just want to join in on the fun.

Featured Image: Samadi Galpayage

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

The post Watch Cute Bumblebees Playing with Toys appeared first on Nerdist.

Who doesn’t want to fly like a bird? Whether you do it in your dreams or would choose it as your superhero power, it’s an experience unlike any other. Now what about flying like a bird while also hanging out with a bird? That’s an experience you can actually have in La Jolla, California with parahawking. The Torrey Pines Gliderport sits on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean just north of San Diego. Paragliders launch themselves into the air and ride the thermals above the beach and famous Torrey Pines Golf Course. And if you ride tandem with a certain falconry expert, you’ll get a visit from his feathered friends while you cruise the coastline. Check out the videos below for a taste of the awesome experience.

You can book a flight for yourself through Fly With a Bird. Parahawking is just one way to commune with the trained birds of prey. The conservation agency Total Raptor Experience also offers group presentations and interactions with their hawks, falcons, and owls. Fun fact about owls, babies sleep on their tummies and it’s very cute. The educational experience of parahawking and falconry will undoubtedly teach you even more about the amazing animals.  

While you’re out there feeling like a superhero who can both fly and befriend animals, don’t forget about all the birds of prey in pop culture. There is, of course, even a movie called Birds of Prey, the fun 2020 Harley Quinn action comedy. Moving over to the MCU, the new Captain America still soars through the sky on his Falcon wings. And there’s a whole parliament of pop culture owls too, including David Bowie’s barn owl form as Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth.

Even if you don’t go parahawking, paragliding itself looks like an awe-inspiring hobby. In an extreme example, one guy even launched a sofa off a cliff to become a paragliding couch potato. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post If You’ve Always Wanted to Fly Like a Bird and With Birds, Parahawking Is For You appeared first on Nerdist.

We all otter take a break every once in a while to appreciate cute animals. Since it’s that time of year, a Halloween-themed video otter do. The latest content from two pet Asian small-clawed otters named Kotaro and Hana involves their human dressing up in one of those inflatable T. rex costumes. What will they make of it? How many snacks will the dino have to share before they befriend it? Check out the delightful video of what happens when an otter meets a T. rex below for those answers. And don’t forget to turn the sound on so you don’t miss the cute coos, squeaks, and harmonic purring the otters make throughout.  

Though it’s clear the otters have no idea what to make of him, Tyrannosaurus dad tries to win them over with some of their favorite things. They take a trip to the outdoor pool, eat some chow, and relax on the couch. Though it’s closer to cowering terrified under the couch in this case.  

Check out the KOTSUMET YouTube channel for all your otter video needs. Even the simplest premise, like Kotaro and Hana chowing down on a birthday buffet, leads to cute content. The video descriptions make sure to highlight the work (and legal issues) involved with keeping otters as pets. They’re adventurous and require a lot of attention. We are amused by videos about whether otters can see optical illusions and how quickly they learn to open doors, but it’s also about the owners keeping this smart animal stimulated.

If you’ve already got an inflatable T. rex costume from a past Halloween and are looking for new ways to use it (and don’t own an otter), maybe try it on and see what your dog, cat, bunny, or hamster thinks of it. It’s not legal to have pet otters in most of the world. But we’ll bet other animals have some funny reactions too. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

The post Otters Are Not a Fan of Those Infamous T. Rex Costumes appeared first on Nerdist.

Hagfish are undoubtedly weird. Sometimes called slime eels, they aren’t actually eels. They are fish but have no scales or fins. Hagfish are the only vertebrates with no spine. They do have a skull, but no jaws. All of these weird adaptations have gone relatively unchanged for 300 million years, so clearly it works for them. Scientists are still debating where they fit in the evolutionary tree. But one thing is certain, they are strange.

The video above, a clip from the Smithsonian Channel’s show Crazy Monsters: Sea Creatures, may be a tad overdramatic but all the facts are true. And it doesn’t even get into some of the hagfish’s wildest behaviors. Like the fact that it can absorb nutrients through its skin, so it doesn’t even need to swallow prey. But if it wants to, it has that crazy mouth that comes out of its head to gnaw on dead fish from the inside out.

Hagfish produce slime and eject it into the water to ward off predators. The mucus gags animals that try to eat the slime eels. Hagfish can scrape the slime off their own bodies by tying themselves in a knot and using that to wriggle out of their own mess. They also use this unique ability to create leverage when feeding. It helps them pull flesh off dead fish and other prey.  

The video, and other wild hagfish content, recently made the rounds again. That’s because there’s a National Hagfish Day that we celebrate on the third Wednesday in October every year. Though it mostly only makes a splash on fish Twitter, it’s a fun reminder about just how strange other inhabitants of this planet can be.

Another time slime eels made the news was back in 2017 when a truck crashed and spilled its cargo of hagfish onto the highway. The slime coated cars and the road, taking hours to clean up.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Meet Hagfish, the Slimiest and Possibly Weirdest Animal in the Ocean appeared first on Nerdist.

Tuna sometimes get itchy. Without hands or a back-scratcher, what’s a fish to do? Many species rub up against each other, but some use a different scratching post—sharks. Scientists studying the phenomenon found that big tuna like yellowfin and bluefin almost exclusively use sharks to scratch their itches. Smaller species like skipjack tuna do not. Most interactions took place on the shark’s non-toothy end, a.k.a. near the tail, meaning the fish are likely wary of predation. Based on the relative sizes of the tuna and shark in the picture below, we’re not sure the tuna has much to fear from the shark.

The team think this interesting behavior helps dislodge parasites that latch onto tuna and other fish. Ridding themselves of itchy hitchhikers isn’t unique to fish. Researchers have long believed it’s part of the reason whales jump out of the water. Slamming back down may dislodge lice and other parasites that crawl on the whale’s skin.

We learned about these findings from New Scientist. The team published their data in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, including more pictures of the shark scratching posts. The paper is titled “Sharks are the preferred scraping surface for large pelagic fishes.” The video below includes a compilation of other observations of fish scratching themselves on sharks, which a different team put together. That group published their data last year in a paper called “Sharks as exfoliators.” The video even includes smaller sharks scratching themselves on an enormous whale shark, which as we previously learned even have rough armor around their eyes.  

It is important to understand relationships like these in vulnerable ocean creatures and if they’re changing with the environment. Many questions remain, like does each species of itchy fish have a favorite shark to scratch themselves on? And do the shark scratchees get anything out of the interaction?

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Big Tuna Use Sharks as Scratching Posts and It Works Out Great for Everyone appeared first on Nerdist.

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re being watched? The video below of deep-sea rattail fish staring into MBARI’s (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) cameras will definitely make you feel that way. In fact, these fish gives off similar “hey, what are you doing, should I come closer?” vibes to every cat I’ve ever tried to take a picture of. But it means we get an up close and personal look at a fish very few people ever get to see. There aren’t any fun facts or narration in this video, just chill music to help you slow down and relax. That is, if you can relax while thinking about the enormous pressure of the deep-sea and all the dark mysteries that it holds.

Rattail fish are actually a group with 1,000 different species worldwide. They got the name because their body tapers down to a thin tail, like a rat. Their huge blue eyes help them track prey in the dark depths of the ocean. So go ahead, zone out as you gaze into those baby blues. But if you do want to know more about rattail fish, MBARI has you covered. Scientists are still learning about these and other deep-sea fishes. You may notice that some of the rattail fish have really long tendrils streaming below them. Apparently only juveniles have those filaments and no one is quite sure why. 

Rattail fish usually hang out near the seafloor and are found in every ocean. All of the videos in this compilation were filmed off the coast of western North America, from the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf of California. They cover a huge range of depths, from the relatively shallow 1,500 feet of Monterey Canyon to more than 13,000 feet off the coast of Santa Barbara. 

There’s plenty more vibing videos on the MBARI YouTube channel. You want information about the technology involved? Check out photos and insights from Nerdist‘s visit to MBARI earlier this year.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post The Void Stares Back in This Video of Deep-Sea Rattail Fish appeared first on Nerdist.

Ever lowered yourself into a perfectly warm bath or hot tub and immediately closed your eyes in relaxation? It turns out that capybaras, the world’s largest and most meme-able rodent, essentially react the same way. Scientists in Japan watched them sit in tubs of hot water for at least 30 minutes per day for 21 days and measured their comfort level by looking at their eye shape and ear position, as shown in the figure below. The result? Capybaras like hot baths. Here’s hoping they also did a meta study at the same time that shows scientists who watch capybaras sit in hot baths for at least 30 minutes a day for 21 days are more relaxed than they were at the beginning of the experiment. 

Capybaras are native to humid regions in Central and South America and spend a lot of their time in or near water. They are popular in wildlife parks in Japan, where the environment is much different. Their skin dries out in cold Japanese winters. The scientists also measured the moisture content and health of the capybara’s skin during the experiment and found that it improved as well. Soaking in the hot water also kept them warm even after they got out of the 95 degree Fahrenheit water. The peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports published the results, which we first saw on Vice.

Capybaras can be four feet long and weigh 170 pounds, a real rodent of unusual size. Luckily, they’re much cuter than the ones in Princess Bride’s fire swamp. Some other fun capybara facts include that they enjoy munching on pumpkins in the fall. Also, other animals seem to love them and sometimes even take naps on top of them. One of the true joys of the internet is all the pictures and videos of everything from turtles to chickens to cats hanging out with capybaras.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post The Capybaras in Bath Memes Are Actually Scientifically Accurate appeared first on Nerdist.

Fans of Wrexham’s football club will probably only care if their new owners bring a winning team to the pitch. But whether or not Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney ever find success on the scoreboard doesn’t matter to us. The duo turned their friendship into an unlikely ownership that has already brought us great joy. Not only is it fun seeing two incredibly likable celebrities hanging out, their exploits as soccer team owners has given us the delightful Welcome to Wrexham on FX. And now it’s given us nine minutes of internet perfection. Because the only thing better than learning Reynolds once auditioned for Superman and McElhenney once auditioned for Anakin Skywalker is learning all of that while watching them play with puppies.

Especially because the puppies have no idea why this was so cool.

It’s always fun hearing our favorite performers bring us behind the curtain to talk about their lives and careers. But the Deadpool star and his friend from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Mythic Quest gave us so much more during their episode of Buzzfeed’s “The Puppy Interview.” They answered questions about possible crossovers and cameos while petting some adorable dogs. (Who you can totally adopt!) And they did it even while the pups peed their way through a junke. (For humans that is almost always considered unprofessional during a junket.)

While there’s plenty of good nuggets and entertaining answers here, one question led to a million “what ifs.” Reynolds said he once auditioned to play Clark Kent, Meanwhile, McElhenney once read to play Anakin Skywalker. We can’t even process how different the pop culture landscape would be if that ever happened.

But in some ways we don’t want to. Not because we wouldn’t want to see both of them in those respective roles. No, it’s because who knows what that might have meant for their careers. Maybe that would have meant we never saw them sit down with a room full of puppies.

And we don’t care how good their Superman and Anakin might have been. We really would hate to have missed out on this.

The post Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, and Puppies Make for a Perfect Interview appeared first on Nerdist.

Alaska’s Katmai National Park is the place to be this week if you’re a grizzly bear. Brooks Falls is the perfect spot to gorge on salmon spawning upriver. Thankfully, there’s a livestream so we can all watch this annual spectacle while safe at home. You can also vote for your favorite fat bear in a single-elimination bracket. Though this competition is more like a celebration. Fat bears mean healthy bears prepping for hibernation. Check out the park’s site to vote. There’s a different matchup every day between October 5-11, 2022 before the chonkiest bear is crowned this year’s winner. 

You can see before and after pictures of each bear on the national park’s website. There’s sliders set up to compare photos from just a few months ago, before the salmon buffet began, and they are all much skinnier. There’s also backstory info about each competitor, including the young bears that faced off in the Fat Bear Junior bracket a few weeks ago. The winner of that, known as 909’s Yearling, earned her spot in the main tournament.  

So which chonky competitor will you vote for? Like many elections, this is mostly a popularity contest. No awards are given for the bear that actually weighs the most or the one who gains the most weight this season. Whether it’s their backstory, name, or fishing technique that sways you, you have plenty to go on. Some of this year’s bears are past champions, while others are new to the mix.

Personally, I am quite scared of bears. But I still recommend checking out the livestream above even if you are too. Watching these fat bears living their best life in Alaska is inspiring.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Fat Bear Week’s Bracket Celebrates Chonky Grizzly Bears appeared first on Nerdist.

Every year, zoos across the country celebrate the fall season by offering animals pumpkins as snacks and enrichment. The Oregon Zoo has outdone themselves by kicking off the 2022 pumpkin season with a compilation of critters sure to delight everyone. Zookeepers gave pumpkins to so many animals this year! There’s lions and otters and bears (oh my!) but also red pandas, porcupines, and beavers.

All the animals have a different strategy for attacking the pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns. Rhinos and elephants stomp the squash before chowing down. The lemurs duck in for handful after handful. But it’s the predators that really leave a lasting impression. A bear rips its pumpkin to shreds while a crocodile gives one a good shake. 

Meanwhile, at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, a beaver got all the gourds. It lives its best life bobbing for pumpkins in its pool and munching on them in the grass. It has a dam good time while delighted zoo-goers chatter in the background.

A mob of meerkats investigated jack-o’-lanterns at the L.A. Zoo (video below). While a herd of elephants at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo got a 1,500 pumpkin to destroy this year and made pretty short work of it. Still no word from Fiona and the hippo bloat in Cincinnati, but we’re sure they’ll be among the many more additions to come this year.

While I may prefer my pumpkin spiced and served as a pie, lattes, bread, cookies, or honestly pretty much anything, the zoo animals seem perfectly content to enjoy theirs raw. Like pumpkin spice season, we love this annual tradition of zoo critters getting their fill of pumpkin treats.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

The post Zoo Animals Eating Pumpkins Is the Perfect Autumn Treat appeared first on Nerdist.

The Atlas moth has a wingspan of almost 10 inches and the tips of those wings look like the face of a cobra. This helps them scare off predators in their native environment in India, the Philippines, and other tropical parts of Asia. But it definitely makes them stand out in the Pacific Northwest, where one was recently spotted. The Washington State Department of Agriculture has asked the public to be on the lookout for the moth after one was spotted in Bellevue, a suburb just east of Seattle. They’re not dangerous and only live a few weeks as adults. But as caterpillars they are very hungry and could make quick work of apple and cherry trees in the area.  

Scientists don’t think the Atlas moth got to the United States on its own. It’s illegal to own them but officials think the one found in Washington likely escaped from a breeder, someone raising them to sell as pets. Because apparently there’s such a thing as a black market for moths. In fact, according to the Seattle Times, a local seller on eBay was offering Atlas moths as recently as this summer. We saw the news on Smithsonian Magazine.  

Atlas moths are one of the largest species of moths. There are at least 160,000 types of moth on Earth, with new ones discovered often. Insects have all kinds of adaptations in order to survive and caterpillars come in all shapes and sizes. There is the hairy monkey slug moth that looks like a tarantula. Looking like a snake is not unique to the Atlas moth. The hawk moth’s caterpillar also mimics a snake to scare off predators.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Enormous Tropical Moth That Mimics Cobras Spotted in Seattle appeared first on Nerdist.

The sighting of sharks in floodwaters is a common urban legend whenever big storms hit. Since at least 2011, the same photoshopped picture of a shark swimming down a flooded highway has circulated after every major storm. It is always quickly discredited. But now there’s a new video, and Snopes and the Associated Press have authenticated it. Taken in Fort Myers, Florida, during Hurricane Ian, an animal that looks like a shark is seen swimming in the shallow lake that was once someone’s yard. The hurricane shark video is officially real.

The cell phone video may never be enough to confirm what species of shark rode storm surge onto someone’s lawn. It could even be a large fish like a tarpon rather than a shark. But scientists and storm-watchers alike are excited to see a version of this trope that is real finally.  

Storms and other extreme weather can, in fact, lead to animals falling from the sky. Sometimes water spouts pick up small fish and deposit them on land. In the case of hurricane shark, storm surge likely pushed it inland as Ian approached. The person who took the video estimated the animal to be about four feet long.

Misinformation about storms can obviously be dangerous. Snopes has a whole list of debunked hurricane photos. In comparison, a shark swimming through floodwaters is relatively harmless. In reality, humans are a much bigger threat to sharks than they are to us. We doubt this will be the last instance of a storm shark we see, but it may be the only time it’s real. We hope the hurricane shark has made it safely back to his home.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post That Hurricane Shark Video Is Actually Real (For Once) appeared first on Nerdist.

Got termites? You better hope not, they’re a big pest and colonies can eat up to a pound of wood every day. The National Pest Management Association shares this and other terrifying facts as part of a series of public service announcements. One fun playlist is called “Will They Eat It?” and includes an overly enthusiastic host finding out what termites will and won’t eat. Despite the laugh track and sparkly set, it’s horrifying. In the video below, he just casually pours a whole cup full of termites into a glass tank containing a fast food meal, containers and all.

Though we don’t know the elapsed time, watching hundreds of creepy-crawly termites systematically munch their way through lunch is both gross and mesmerizing at the same time. They eat the entire paper bag, the burger, and the fry container, but leave the fries and straw behind. Most of the paper wrapper on the straw is still there too. Perhaps they don’t like plastic and it wasn’t worth the effort. But why skip the fries? Potatoes have cellulose after all, a termite’s favorite snack. Does the salt put them off? Should I coat my entire house in salt?  

Other entries in the Will They Eat It? playlist include money, shoes, and headphones. They’re all as interesting and horrible to watch. The PestWorld YouTube channel also includes PSAs about other pests like ticks, rats, bed bugs, cockroaches, and hornets. It’s a long list of gross things that could be in your house right now. There’s also fun crafts to do with kids, if that’s more your speed.

No matter how much you love fast food, watching a termite colony breeze through this meal may put you off burgers and fries for a bit. Combine that with the knowledge that termite colonies can clone themselves and your skin may begin to crawl. Hopefully that scurrying in the walls is just my imagination.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Termites Won’t Eat French Fries But Will Eat the Container appeared first on Nerdist.

The team aboard exploration vessel (E/V) Nautilus are no strangers to rare and amazing underwater finds. It’s literally the ship’s scientific purpose. This big red octopus has only been seen a handful of times before. The ROV recorded the interaction about a mile below the ocean’s surface. At first, the team mistakes it for a Dumbo octopus, which is another species with flaps on its head that look like the Disney elephant’s giant ears. This one is more like a circus tent as the sea octopus spreads itself out in what is likely a defensive posture. As one of the observers says, “he wants us to know he’s too big to slurp.” 

This octopus is in the family Cirroteuthidae, but the team isn’t sure about the exact species. There are even undescribed animals in this group and it could easily be one that scientists haven’t named yet. Based on the laser guides, which are four inches apart, the scientists estimate this octopus is over four feet long. In the five minute video, it alternates between spreading out into a tent and stretching into a torpedo shape. Truly a wild transition to watch. The shadow on the seafloor is eerie as well, with the eight arms illuminated by multiple light sources.

This sighting happened back in 2019, but came back into our feeds thanks to Twitter. The Nautilus team has come across these stranger creatures on at least one other occasion. In that video, it looks more like a floating bell pepper at first. It transforms from a blob into an octopus, boggling the minds of the scientists who watch critters in the deep sea for a living. No wonder ocean animals often inform the design of aliens. 

Featured Image: EVNautilus

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth.

The post This Sea Octopus Fights Foes by Expanding Like a Circus Tent appeared first on Nerdist.

An art show called Uncaged: The Unbearable Weight of Genius Cat Art is coming to CatCon October 1-2, 2022. The convention, held this year in Pasadena, brings together cat culture and pop culture—a space Nicolas Cage also inhabits as a prolific movie star and self-described cat person. This year’s art show used that crossover as a theme and will feature seven original pieces of art inspired by Cage’s friendship with his cat Merlin, a fluffy black Maine Coon. Yes, a Nicolas Cage cat art show is real.

The four pieces of art previewed here represent a diversity of styles that will make up the Cat Art Show. There’s everything from wallpaper we expect to see in the next Wes Anderson movie to oil paintings that would be at home over any hearth. Plus, the show has an off-putting addition to the vintage Dick and Jane-style alphabet. Though maybe that one should be a 26-piece set and round out the full Nicolas Cage cat art collection.

Cage’s affection for Merlin (and vice versa) came to light on the press tour for his recent film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. “Nicolas Cage is an artist’s dream subject—he’s cult, he’s camp, and he DGAF,” says curator and founder Susan Michals. “Cats have many of the same characteristics—so why not combine the two and celebrate it on canvas?” 

Tickets are on sale for the convention billed as Comic-Con for cat people. The art will be for sale, with 10% of the proceeds going to cat-related charities. Other than the art show, the show will have vendors and meet and greets with internet famous cats and their owners. You can even adopt a kitty at the con!

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Preview the Art Show Entirely Inspired by Nicolas Cage and His Cat appeared first on Nerdist.

The bloat of hippos at Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has a new member. A baby born August 3 is making waves in the hippo pool. He joins mom Bibi, dad Tucker, and older sister Fiona. The care team is well-versed in sharing cute videos and updates thanks to Fiona the hippo, who is a social media star in her own right. The zoo named the baby hippo, Fritz, after suggestions from the public and a round of voting. The name suggestion came because Bibi’s birth control was “on the fritz,” leading to the unexpected addition. Video from the night the new baby was born (below) shows him following close behind mom. And even taking a dip with her in the pool.

The team at the Cincinnati Zoo was shocked at the size of the new addition. That’s because Bibi’s only other calf was born six weeks premature. Five years ago, Fiona the hippo weighed only 29 pounds at birth and had to be bottle-fed and taught to walk. The new calf is more than double that size and was walking within hours. 

Fiona the hippo became a social media star as she sassed her way through all the milestones. And it’s likely her bouncing baby sibling will follow in those influencer footsteps. The two siblings met under the watchful eye of mom Bibi (video below) and have played together too.

From bottle-feeding to ballet, the zoo’s social media channels have great coverage of Fiona the hippo, her little brother Fritz, and the rest of the family. Especially the hippopotamus playlist on The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s YouTube channel. It’s certainly worth taking the time to explore.

If Moon Knight‘s hippo goddess Tawaret wasn’t enough to make you love hippos, hopefully the Cincinnati Zoo’s newest addition will be. And just to complete the trifecta, we highly suggest watching Oscar Isaac sing an original lullaby called “The Hippopotamus Song.” You can never have enough hippo content!

Originally published August 9, 2022.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. Hippos are her favorite animal. She even owns Fiona the hippo nose print art! Melissa also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Fiona the Hippo Has a Baby Brother and He’s So Adorable appeared first on Nerdist.

Fin whales are the second largest animal on Earth, after blue whale. They can reach 90 feet long and weigh 80 tons. Though usually traveling in small groups, on feeding grounds rich with krill hundreds come together to splurge on the bounty. The National Geographic show Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory filmed this gathering for the first time. It’s an amazing sight to behold, even if you only watch the video below on your phone.

Fin whales have baleen instead of teeth. It’s a comb-like structure made of keratin (like our hair and fingernails) that they strain water through in order to capture food. In the video, whales lunge and take huge gulps of water. Krill, squid, and fish can’t escape the baleen and are swallowed. The seabirds get out of the way when they sense a whale beneath them, lest they get gobbled up as well.

We saw this incredible footage on Boing Boing. The show is also available on Disney+. In the full episode, there’s also a humpback whale, penguins, and fur seals feeding with the group of fin whales. This incredible event took place in the Drake Passage, the narrow ocean between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. It’s a known hotspot for whales but also the roughest area of any ocean on Earth. The team traveled for weeks in a sailboat in order to witness the event.  

Scientists are still working to answer a lot of questions about ocean birds and marine mammals. It’s a difficult area to access and set up research projects. Researchers use drone footage to understand animal populations and behavior like never before. Another recent example is the first video of orcas killing a great white shark off the coast of South Africa. Researchers in California use drones to establish a shark forecast for the area. The technology helps scientists and also gives the rest of us awe-inspiring footage to stoke our sense of wonder.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Watch Stunning Video of a Fin Whale Feeding Frenzy appeared first on Nerdist.

Happy birthday, Janus! The Natural History Museum in Geneva, Switzerland threw a birthday party for the two-headed tortoise they’ve raised since birth. He was named after the Roman God Janus, who is often depicted as having two heads or faces. Though Greek tortoises can live 50 years or longer, Janus is thought to be the oldest two-headed tortoise. He can’t retract either head into the shell so likely wouldn’t have survived this long in the wild. Thankfully, the caretakers at the museum take great care of Janus, with a special diet or organic fruits and vegetables. And even daily baths. A true Roman god treatment. 

We learned about this remarkable reptile on Boing Boing. Janus has two heads but also two hearts and two sets of lungs. But he does share intestines and a few other organs. Each head controls the front and rear legs on its side of the body. This leads to confusion when they want to go in different directions. According to Janus’ keepers, each head has a distinct personality as well. The right side is more curious and outgoing, while the left side is more greedy. Each also prefers certain foods.  

Another story about a tortoise in need that we saw recently involves a custom wheelchair for one who was having trouble walking. While reaching the age of 25 is no small feat for Janus, there are other tortoises that can live even longer. One giant tortoise is at least 190 years old, making it the record holder for oldest land animal.

Hopefully with the continued pampering, Janus will leave at least another 25 years.  

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post This Magnificent Two-Headed Tortoise Turns 25 appeared first on Nerdist.

Lucas the African penguin has new footwear and a new way to move through life. He lives at the San Diego Zoo but has a chronic condition called bumblefoot that slows him down. The wildlife specialists at the zoo tried treating Lucas with pain medicine, physical therapy, and even acupuncture. A spinal infection caused him to stand oddly and created sores on his feet. But now he has custom booties. And they’re made of neoprene, the same material used in wetsuits, so he can wear them waddling or swimming. The team at the zoo have already seen improvements in his gait and posture.

“I’ve known Lucas for a long time, so having the ability to provide him with a chance to live a normal life brings a smile to my face,” said Dr. Beth Bicknese, senior veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo. “The boots are cushioned and Velcroed in place, so they will help Lucas to fully participate in the colony and showcase behaviors that are more typical for a penguin—such as climbing the rocks, swimming, nesting and finding a suitable mate.” 

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance teamed up with Thera-Paw, a company that makes products for animals with special needs. There are tons of sweet pictures of pups getting a second chance at life on their Facebook page. We first saw this feel-good story on NPR, thanks to a link my husband sent me because he knows I couldn’t resist an article about footwear for penguins. And clearly neither can you.

This is just the latest device to help animals thrive with chronic conditions or injuries. There’s a sea turtle with a 3D-printed shell brace, chihuahuas missing front legs with prosthetic wheels, and even a whole new foot for a duck. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Adorable Penguin Gets Custom Orthopedic Boots appeared first on Nerdist.

What do coconuts, vending machines, and selfies have in common? They’re responsible for more deaths every year than sharks. And yet, shark attacks are high on the list of things people are afraid of. Great white sharks especially strike fear in many people. But it turns out that even they have something to be afraid of. Orcas, a.k.a. killer whales, kill great white sharks just to eat their livers. And now there’s video from South Africa of the dramatic event. Drone footage aired as part of Discovery’s Shark Week shows orcas feeding on a great white shark like the apex predator they are.

We first saw the dramatic footage of the orcas killing a great white shark on The Daily Beast. It’s part of the program “Shark House.” According to a recent study covered by Live Science, great white shark numbers in the Gansbaai area of coastal South Africa have plummeted since the orca pod starting killing them. There used to be a year-round presence of the sharks, but now sightings are way down. Data from tagged sharks show them fleeing the area, sometimes not returning for months at a time. And it may just be two male orcas that are responsible for a shift in the entire ecosystem. Smaller sharks that are usually scared away by great whites have moved back into the area. Researchers are still collecting information, and drone footage like this will help better understand the behavior.

The behavior has been seen before, but in nowhere near the detail of the new drone footage. A tourist boat in Australia took video of orcas hunting a great white (below). Scientists studying orca and great white shark populations off the coast of San Francisco also described the interaction in 2019. The Farallon Islands are feeding grounds for both species. The peer-reviewed journal Nature published an article showing that tagged great white sharks left the area when orcas showed up. The scientists’ reason that the orcas eat only the liver because it is high in calories, and they have to move on quickly before the carcass sinks, and other scavengers arrive. Hannibal would not approve of the orcas’ methods of killing the great white sharks. They do not honor every part.

Shark Week 2022 ran on Discovery Channel and can also be watched through Prime Video. There’s also National Geographic’s SharkFest, which includes three weeks of shows also available on Disney+. It also includes dramatic titles, like “Sky Sharks” about how drones are helping with research projects all over the world. Or “Shark Gangs” to cover the behavior that some sharks are social creatures.  

Originally published on July 29, 2022.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Killer Whales Eat a Great White Shark in Stunning Drone Video appeared first on Nerdist.

Here’s some cheetah cub and puppy goodness to bless your timeline. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden recently introduced a two-month-old cheetah cub named Rozi (pronounced Rosie) and a three-month-old shelter pup named Daisy. Solitary cheetah cubs need friends to ease their anxiety, and puppies are the perfect fix. We have to say, we are here to learn more about this animal friendship between a cheetah and its puppy friend. Especially because it turns out, Rozi and Daisy aren’t the only puppy and cheetah friends out there.

The Friendship Between Cheetah Rozi and Puppy Daisy

In the video below, they play and check each other out. Daisy barks and Rozi chirps. While they don’t become fast friends, exactly, it’s a step in the important process of turning them into companions. Keepers will continue to introduce them slowly until their bond becomes strong.

Rozi’s mother wasn’t caring for her at the Wildlife Safari in Oregon, which can happen when a cheetah mom only has one cub instead of multiple. So Rozi was transferred and is being hand-raised in Cincinnati. While humans can supply her with food and toys, cheetahs need socialization. And that’s where a companion dog comes in! Daisy will act as a sibling, tussling and snuggling together for life.

Other Cheetah and Puppy Animal Friendships

Cheetah Kris and Puppy Remus

The Cincinnati Zoo is only one of the wildlife facilities that successfully pairs cheetah cubs and puppies. You can also see these friendships in person at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, Dallas Zoo, and at least a few others. Pairing baby cheetahs with puppies is happening more often as the benefits become obvious. Already at home in Cincinnati are cheetah Kris and dog Remus, who have been friends since they were young and do almost everything together.

Cheetahs and dogs playing and snoozing together is a much cuter way to get your cheetah content than those cheetah robots or the Wonder Woman villain. Just look at that little face!

Cheetah Emmett and Puppy Cullen

The Columbus Zoo also has a famous pair of pals, with delightfully nerdy names. Cheetah cub Emmett and his puppy best friend Cullen (get it Twilight fans?) recently went viral for their friendship.

You can learn all about this duo in a video released by the zoo. The description shares that cheetah Emmett struggled with pneumonia after he was born and picked Cullen to be his companion dog. As the video shares, “Cullen will help Emmett to be more confident and calm, as cheetahs are naturally skittish animals.” Our hearts are melting at this sweet animal friendship.

Apparently, we’ve been saying it wrong all along, dogs are actually cheetah’s best friend.

Originally published on June 22, 2022.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Watch a Baby Cheetah Meet Her Puppy Best Friend for the First Time appeared first on Nerdist.

While many people would not want to see millions of bees at the same time, their synchronized movements are actually nothing short of beautiful. The ripple of bees, or bees doing the wave, is a response to the predatory threat of hornets hovering nearby. They move their abdomens in sync as a defensive wave that may confuse the hornets. But they end up looking more like people doing the wave in a stadium. It sounds like a stadium full of vuvuzelas too.

They bees create fluid-looking waves that ripple out like the aftermath of rocks thrown into a pond. But there’s no rocks involved. That would probably lead to a completely different situation. The video above shows huge combs of bees waving their bodies in unison and it’s quite a sight to behold.

We learned about this phenomenon on Boing Boing. It’s clearly something other people have known about for awhile. But, as with the BBC presenter in the video above, it’s a new and amazing behavior I had never seen before. But this isn’t the only bee behavior I’m happy to see only on YouTube and not in person. Whether that involves swarming cars in grocery store parking lots or screaming at murder hornets, I’m happy to learn see these moments through my computer screen. Though it is nice to know that bees really do always stick together. 

The colonies in the video look just like the honeycomb that Bill Murray, I mean Baloo, is interested in harvesting in the live-action version of The Jungle Book. I had also never seen beehives in that shape before seeing the movie. There’s always more to learn!

Featured Image: BBC Earth

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. The name Melissa means “honeybee” in Greek. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Bees Do the Wave to Defend Themselves and It Is Mesmerizing appeared first on Nerdist.

Spiders may have REM sleep cycles just like humans. Since REM stands for rapid eye movement, one of the main indicators of this type of deep sleep involves just that. While spiders can’t move their eyes the same way we can, some have retinal tubes that shift to direct their gaze in different directions. Scientists observed movement during that phase of active sleep. Along with twitchy legs, so it all sounds very similar to REM sleep in people. You may have also observed it in dogs and cats. Now, thanks to the video below, you can watch baby jumping spiders dream too.

The researchers recorded sleeping spiderlings, which are translucent, allowing for easy observation of their movements. The peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the study. We learned about it thanks to coverage by New Scientist. 

Other researchers study REM sleep in a a variety of different animals. Including octopus and other cephalopods, who flash colorful changes on their bodies while dozing. Animals that rely on different senses may twitch those muscles more while dreaming. Indeed, sleeping honeybees move their antenna, which they use to smell, taste, and touch.

An an arachnophobic, I generally dislike covering spider science. Their leg movement creeps me out, something that was made very clear with the recent story about scientists turning dead spiders into robot claws. But it turns out little snoozing spiders are actually quite cute. Almost as precious as those Lucas the Spider shorts on YouTube. Just like I like to watch my dog twitch in her sleep and guess what she’s dreaming about, now I wonder the same for spiders. As long as it doesn’t involve dangling over me while I sleep or hanging out in my shower, I’m fine with it. 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Spiders May Dream and It’s Actually Kind of Cute appeared first on Nerdist.

Animal sidekicks are often the best part of movies. And Prey—which features a very good dog—is Hulu’s biggest movie premier. Coincidence? I think not. The film’s success is partially because of Sarii, the main character’s loyal dog companion with an interesting real-life background. The Fulton Shelter in Atlanta, Georgia confirmed on Facebook that Coco the dog (and now Hollywood darling) was one of their adoptable pets before starring in Prey.

The post also shares some adorable behind the scenes info. (Apparently, she was not that good at hitting her marks.) Both director Dan Trachtenberg and star Amber Midthunder revealed that Coco was high energy on set. Despite this, her screen time increased during filming due to her popularity with the cast, crew, and test audiences. We first saw the sweet news on Collider and now we’re hoping for a Prey blooper reel full of Coco’s on-set shenanigans.  

The movie, which you can watch dubbed into the Comanche language, follows a woman (and her dog) as she tries to prove her hunting abilities to her tribe. The Predator prequel is a worthy edition to the franchise. You can read Nerdist’s full, spoiler-free (and somehow also dog-free) review of Prey.

For those worried about Sarii’s fate, you can always check out DoesTheDogDie.com for answers to that and other important questions. And for more rescue dog content, check out the Chris Evans puppy interview, which also includes older dogs available for adoption. And don’t forget about Texas ChainPaw Massacre, which highlights rescue animals that look like pets in horror movies. Keep an eye out for sweet doggos that look like Sarii/Coco and adopt your own loyal sidekick!

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post PREY’s Doggo Sidekick Is a Rescue Pup Named Coco appeared first on Nerdist.

Seeing a snake walk is a bit unnerving, even if you’re not one of the many people scared of them. But that’s exactly what happens when YouTuber Allen Pan builds a robotic lizard body for snakes. When the boa accepts its viral video fate and goes for a walk, it’s actually quite cute. Pan jokingly asserts the snake actually wants legs, but it’s likely just bewildered by the whole situation.

Pan has a few false starts with the project, thankfully using a stuffed animal snake to try out the prototypes. And even though I’m not afraid of snakes, the idea of one with spider legs is horrifying. The final design is much less creepy. It uses a series of programmable servos and a wireless controller that looks like a car key fob. 

Pan references his previous video about trying to smuggle snakes through airport security in a hat and is sure to set up the experiment so the snake can opt out. That turns out to be relatively simple and it honestly does look like the snake chosen is perfectly happy to go for a walk. Or it could just be more misunderstood natural behavior, like sea snakes that “attack” by wrapping around people’s legs because they’re feeling amorous. 

Pan visits a Petco to observe some lizards and get the leg movements just right. Scientists study this in order to make more adaptable wiggling robots for search and rescue operations or even on Mars. More reptilian robots are on the way as scientists also study snake locomotion. Like invasive brown tree snakes in Guam that make themselves into a lasso to raid bird nests. Or snakes that can glide from tree to tree. So expect to see some wild snake robots in the future!

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post This Lizard Robot Gives Snakes a Set of Legs appeared first on Nerdist.

Scientists discovered a new species of giant isopod that is the size of a literal football. This big crustacean lives on the ocean floor but is related to the pillbugs, also known as roly poly bugs, in your garden. They definitely look like something out of science fiction or even horror movies, but they’re real. The new species lives in the Gulf of Mexico and its scientific name is Bathynomus yucatanensis. The photo below shows the specimen is about 10 inches long, but they likely grow larger. Other giant isopod species can be get twice that long.

The team noticed some visible differences from other specimens, like the number of spines and a yellow color. But they also used DNA evidence in their conclusions. The peer-reviewed Journal of Natural History published the study, which we saw on Gizmodo. 

If seeing these many-legged crustaceans in action is on your bucket list, you’ve got some options. The video below shows them gnawing on an alligator carcass on the ocean floor. This was part of a science experiment to understand deep sea chemical signals, believe it or not. You can even see giant isopods in person at the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s deep sea exhibit. 

Scientists have described three other new species of giant isopods since 2016. It’s easy, even for scientists, to confuse small differences between animals. Re-examining specimens collected years or even centuries ago with improved technology often leads to the discovery of new species. This is how graduate student Kelsi Rutledge came to describe a new species of ray. She later went on to be the science consultant for Jordan Peele’s movie Nope. Another connection between ocean animals and horror films.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post This Football-Sized Crustacean Is the Oceanic Cousin of Roly-Poly Bugs appeared first on Nerdist.

Lots of people got new pets during the lockdown. And we all have to keep ourselves amused so the amount of dog content on the internet also seems to increase constantly. Not that we’re complaining. The latest challenge involves getting dogs to jump over painters tape in order to get a treat. Golden retrievers Tucker and Todd took the challenge, with varying results.

The video has captioned content for what the dogs are saying and thinking. Many of which seem judgmental of the owners for setting up the obstacle course in the first place. But hey, there’s not always corgi races on ESPN to amuse us.

Though both goldens are very cute in their bowties, their abilities and energy levels are different. Tucker tapped out at five strips of tape. But he still got his steak by swatting it down with his paw and breaking through. Todd, a younger dog who came skidding around the corner each time, leapt over seven strips of tape. But he came to a screeching halt at the sight of eight. Their YouTube channel has other amazingly cute dog content, including food reviews and other challenges. 

We saw the video on Laughing Squid, which also led us to a whole series of dogs taking the painter’s tape challenge. Other breeds got in on the action, like the French Bulldogs of Gus Gus In The City in the video above. While some clearly understood the assignment, others had no idea what to make of the tape. Even if a human showed them how to hurdle it.   

None of the dogs, it seems, like to just crash through the tape. It reminds us of other pets respecting imaginary barriers. According to a citizen science project that turned into an internet challenge, cats like boxes so much they will sit inside ones made only of optical illusions or even tape on the ground.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post Doggos Leap Over Increasing Hurdles to Get Steak appeared first on Nerdist.

A 20-second video of an enormous jellyfish with colorful spots and stripes is mesmerizing the internet. A scuba diver took the footage and posted it on Facebook back in December 2021. It got everyone excited as potentially only the second sighting of an animal known as Chirodectes maculatus. But scientists now say it could be an entirely new species. More sightings and study would help figure out this mystery. In the meantime, its pulsing and colorful design is a sight to behold.

We saw the footage thanks to Laughing Squid. Even if it’s not a new species, there’s only one other known sighting of a box jellyfish like this. In 1997, scientists collected a specimen on the Great Barrier Reef. They described and named it in 2005. At the time, they thought a cyclone may have blown a deep water species closer to shore. That would explain why it had never been seen before.

According to ABC News Australia, another jellyfish scientist believes this new sighting is a different species altogether. The scientific community requires a thorough description before accepting new species. It’s possible that as many as 90% of animals living in the ocean have yet to be classified by science. Experts describe new species of jellyfish every year.

Jellyfish and deep sea creatures are often the inspiration for science fiction. Box jellyfish can be quite deadly to humans, some causing death within minutes, so this species may find its way into a monster movie. It looks a lot like the sentinels The Matrix. More recently, the film Nope consulted scientists to design an alien species. As part of the bonus features, fish scientist Kelsi Rutledge painstakingly describes the new species in a mock scientific paper. 

Even if this might be a highly venomous jellyfish from the deep, isn’t it exciting to know that there’s still discoveries out there to be made? 

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post This Spotted and Striped Jellyfish Could Be a New Species appeared first on Nerdist.

Land shark alert! Epaulette sharks use their paddle-like fins to “walk.” It’s not as dramatic as it sounds. And certainly not a threat to humans. It also isn’t a new discovery. It is, however, very cool and actually quite cute. They move this way both in the ocean and across land when exposed during a low tide. Like many animals that live in shallow water and tidepools, these sharks have adapted to survive both in and out of the ocean. The Nature video below shows just how well they manage, and it’s remarkable to watch them wriggle across the rocks.

Epaulette sharks are also able to slow their breathing and heart rate to conserve oxygen when out of the water. They shut down non-essential systems in order to survive without breathing. It’s possible that the first terrestrial animals to come out of the ocean had similar adaptations. The video from National Geographic below shows the walking behavior both on land and under the water. And you can also really see how their markings help them camouflage as well.

Epaulette sharks get their name from the distinct markings that look like a military uniform’s shoulder epaulettes. They only grow to about three feet long and eat worms, crabs, and shrimp, among other invertebrates. Thankfully, the shark isn’t listed as endangered. There are some epaulette sharks in aquariums around the world, so you can check out its walking behavior for yourself.

Great white sharks are usually the ones to make dramatic news. But there’s so many fascinating species to learn about as well. Epaulette sharks also aren’t the only cute sharks and we don’t talk about those nearly enough!

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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The video game Stray is winning hearts and popularity contests all over the internet. In a charming watch video, a cat behavior expert analyzes how realistic the kitty’s behaviors are in the game. JoAnna Puzzo, a feline welfare manager at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, watched gameplay. And also clearly falls in love with Stray. 

The game includes the cat playing with other members of its colony, meeting robots, ziplining in a bucket, and many other adventures. One of the best moments in the video above is Puzzo confirming that kitties are agile enough not to knock items off of tables and shelves. So when they do it, it’s intentional. I knew it. And just like we all do, Puzzo gets distressed when the sweet kitty injures himself and is limping. Though the disruption of what appears to be a game of mahjong immediately reduces empathy for the cat.  

She also talks about the vertical scratching behavior, which the cat in Stray does on both trees and furniture. Apparently, it provides a visual marker of territory and also leaves a chemical signal from the scent glands in their paws. When the video game kitty first gets his little backpack, he crouches and walks funny. Puzzo says that cats generally don’t like wearing clothes or harnesses and this is a response to that lack of control. But once he’s comfortable with the robots, he rubs on their legs in greeting. Just like a real-life cat would do, especially to people who are allergic to them.

The video, which we saw on Laughing Squid, also includes Kipp, a sweet kitty up for adoption. If you’re looking for your own stray to bring home, check out the Battersea cat and dog adoption pages. Or your local rescue group. And don’t forget that you can also play Stray as Garfield the cat, thanks to a new mod.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

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