Animals: The mystery of cubic poo; secrets within whales' ears; an ambitious octopus and more

ALL ANIMAL EVERYTHING VIEW ONLINE

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In this edition: Wombat waste, stay-at-home dragons, and stinkin' cute coyotes. It's that time of the week again: Thurs—um, I mean, animalday.

WONKY WOMBATS      Why is wombat poop cube shaped? Wombats are the only animals in the world that produce cube-shaped scat. But how and why do they do it? Scientists now have a better idea. THIS SHOULD BE GOOD SHARE WOMBAT WISDOM: GET THE FACTS ON THE PUDGY MARSUPIALS +

AT-HOME DRAGONS      Why komodo dragons don’t stray far from home Komodo dragons seem like they could spread anywhere—scientists now know why they haven’t. TELL ME WHY       TELLTALE WAX      Earwax reveals human effects on whales Hormones in earwax spell out how human activities have been stressing out whales for more than a century and a half. FIND OUT HOW

QUITE THE SNACK      Why did an octopus try to eat an inflated pufferfish? A strange encounter between a pufferfish and an octopus has scientists wondering if the mighty cephalopod finally met its match. SHOW ME THE BATTLE SHARE EXTRA-ORDINARY: EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE COMMON OCTOPUS +

SPECIES STORIES      Coyote (Canis latrans) “Coyote” is a Spanish borrowing of the animal's Nahuatl name coyōtl, revered as a (sometimes helpful) trickster spirit. Its scientific name comes from Latin words canis for “dog” and latrare for “bark,” a reference to its many vocalizations.  ALL ABOUT COYOTES

DID YOU KNOW? A group of cats is known as a clowder, or cludder ("a crowd, heap, cluster"). OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

ENOUGH ANIMALS ALREADY? NAH. HEAD-HUNTING ANTS BASHFUL BABBLERS PIRATES AND TIGERS

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