Identifying species by appearance

This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. In this post, Héloïse Brown and Will Allen of Swansea University discuss research on species recognition signalling across the animal kingdom and explore what this can tell us about Homo sapiens’ interactions with other lineages of archaic human. Throughout human evolution we know different … Continue reading Identifying species by appearance

The hidden world of colours: a thermal story

This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. In this post, Johnathan Goldenberg of Ghent University unpicks the fascinating role of scale colouration in lizard temperature control and what this means under climate change. Colour is around us everyday, and we often talk about colours like everyone has the same experience as … Continue reading The hidden world of colours: a thermal story

From blind amoeba to Nemo: the evolution of fish (and vertebrate) vision

This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. In this post, Martin Luehrmann of The University of Queensland takes us on a journey through the development of sight through the evolution of fish and early vertebrates. Imagine waking up and the world is black, your eyelids won’t open. You are … Continue reading From blind amoeba to Nemo: the evolution of fish (and vertebrate) vision

Cryptic floral colouration: beyond human vision.

This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. In this post, Caroline Dong of Tulane University unearths the diverse world of floral colouration and what we have yet to discover in these decorative but mysterious plants. Floral colouration can be a useful and predictable trait. The colouration of flowers is … Continue reading Cryptic floral colouration: beyond human vision.

Spider body coloration plays an important role in foraging and predator avoidance

This blog is part of our colourful countdown to the holiday season where we’re celebrating the diversity and beauty of the natural world. In this post, Shichang Zhang of Hubei University unravels the role of body coloration on prey capture and predator avoidance in spiders. Animals have evolved a variety of body colours during evolution. The body colour of spiders is best known for its … Continue reading Spider body coloration plays an important role in foraging and predator avoidance