24 November 2011 Last updated at 11:18 Share this page By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature Pregnant dolphins are not able to sweep their tails through as wide an arc As for many mothers-to-be, the late stages of pregnancy can be extremely awkward for dolphins, say scientists. Gliding along beneath the ocean, it might seem that these streamlined marine mammals are unaffected by the slight swell of carrying a baby. But a study has [...]

23 November 2011 Last updated at 10:01 Share this page By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature As brine from the sea ice sinks, a 'brinicle' forms threatening life on the sea floor with a frosty fate. A bizarre underwater "icicle of death" has been filmed by a BBC crew. With timelapse cameras, specialists recorded salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking. The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, [...]

21 November 2011 Last updated at 04:43 Share this page by Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature Greylag geese are some of the traditional winter visitors to the UK that are delaying their migrations Geese, ducks and swans that spend winter in wetlands of Northern Europe are changing their migration patterns as temperatures rise, say scientists. Researchers in Finland found some waterfowl delayed migrations by up to a month compared with 30 years ago. The [...]

18 November 2011 last updated at 04:15 Share this page Life can be surprisingly colourful thousands of metres below the sea surface A team of scientists has set out on a six-week mission, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, to explore the Indian Ocean's underwater mountains, or seamounts. The scientists aboard the research vessel, the RRS James Cook, will study life thousands of metres below the surface. Aurelie Spadone from the International Union for [...]

15 November 2011 Last updated at 03:18 Share this page by Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature the animal's "specialist secretory legs" produce the sticky, fibrous material A tiny underwater creature spins silk in order to bind together its sand grain house, researchers have discovered. The shrimp, Crassicorophium bonellii, produces fibres that combine barnacle cement biology with spider silk production techniques. The resulting "gossamer threads" are sticky and salt-water resistant. The Oxford team says this [...]

10 November 2011 last updated at 17:00 Share this page By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature Lead researcher Zylinski from Duke University, describes how the animals respond to light Scientists have discovered how two marine creatures are able to rapidly "switch" their colours – from transparent to reddish brown. The species, an octopus and a squid, use their adaptable camouflage to cope with changing light conditions in the deep ocean. The creatures' skins respond [...]

9 November 2011 Last updated at 01:13 Share this page by Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature Chicks move from a river dip to mud bathing in their efforts to lose heat King penguin chicks have been filmed bathing in a "mud spa". The birds use streams and thick, cooling mud to keep their large, fluffy bodies from overheating in summer temperatures that can reach 17C. A BBC film crew captured the behaviour in St [...]

8 November 2011 Last updated at 00:58 Share this page by Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC Nature The new estimate shows how long it will take turtle conservation efforts to yield results Loggerhead turtles take almost half a century to reach maturity, say scientists. A female turtle, the researchers report in the journal Functional Ecology, will not start to lay eggs until she is 45. This estimate, based on examination of several decades of data [...]

4 November 2011 last updated at 02:04 Share this page By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature Scanning the skull revealed meaty secrets The largest bear that ever lived also had the strongest bite of any land mammal, say scientists. Agriotherium africanum was a giant short-faced bear that became extinct five million years ago. Reconstructions of the carnivore's skull revealed that it was well adapted to resist the forces involved in eating large prey. The findings [...]

31 October 2011 last updated at 00:24 Share this page by Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature Scientists are just beginning to understand bone-eating "zombie worms" Traces of bone-eating "zombie worms" have been found in a three-million-year-old fossil from Italy, say researchers. Osedax worms feed on whale skeletons on the seabed using root-like tissues to bore into and dissolve the bones. Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London identified telltale borings in the fossil using [...]