Lions and hyenas compete for food and will kill each other if they get the chance, but studying their power struggle is difficult — they roam over wide landscapes where it’s hard for scientists to follow them, and their most active hours are in darkness or twilight. Now scientists have taken advantage of GPS collars to plot the movements of different hyenas and lions, shedding new light on their competition. It’s well known that hyenas scavenge from lion kills, which gave scientists cause to think that hyenas followed lions through the bush. But this new evidence shows that the direction of pursuit runs the other way: male lions in particular approach hyenas when they encounter them, and hyenas retreat.

Monash University scientists have developed a new global framework to tackle a major blind spot in biodiversity conservation: insects underpin ecosystems and food production but remain largely invisible to conservation efforts across the tropics.

Quebec’s record-breaking 2023 wildfire season left some forest moths with significantly more damaged wings, Concordia researchers have found. Moths exposed to wildfire smoke as larvae were more likely to develop folded, crumpled or missing wings, with about 30 per cent of spruce budworm showing deformities compared with 11–15 per cent the previous year. The findings highlight another potential impact of wildfire smoke on forest ecosystems.

A Stanford-led study of a marine worm’s metamorphosis found surprising signs that the original larval cells didn’t just die or assume the same role in the adult organism—most of them changed to serve another purpose.