When the environment changes dramatically, animals from mollusks to crows can make big changes in their behavior that enable them to survive. For example, marmots and ground squirrels in California ...

A study has found that the reason why the evolution of the first animals to appear on Earth was delayed for over 10 million years was due to their reproductive methods. Early animals reproduced by ...

A huge and beautifully preserved suite of fossils discovered in China has cast doubt on the idea that complex life flourished dramatically during a rapid burst of evolution known as the Cambrian ...

The study outlines a new scenario for understanding how genome regulation and chromatin organization influence the evolution of animal body plans. The conservation of genome regulatory elements over ...

From butterflies to blue whales, corals and worms, Earth is home to an incredible diversity of animals. How all of these animals evolved from earlier, simpler ancestors is one of the most exciting ...

The transition from water to land is a question that still intrigues scientists. Those ancient organisms would have needed to adapt to several new challenges to life out of water. So, how did they do ...