News In Brief
Better together
Male bottlenose dolphins in Western Australia make the most complex alliances yet seen outside human societies, according to research led by the University of Bristol. Pursuing mating opportunities is at the heart of it, but the scale of the strategic grouping is surprising. This ranges from groups of two or three males, to ‘second order’ alliances of up to 14 unrelated animals, to supergroups of second-order bands.
FACT.
The sunflower sea star has strange table manners. It can extend its stomach out of its mouth and into the shells of clams and mussels, where it digests them.
Albatross divorce
In a male-skewed population of wandering albatrosses, personality predicts divorce, reports Biology Letters. Shyer males exhibited higher divorce rates than bolder males, perhaps caused by a lack of territorial aggression along with intrusions by male competitors.
Candid camera
A pine marten has been snapped in a South West London woodland on cameras installed by conservation charity ZSL. Pine martens are generally restricted to Scotland, with small populations in northern England, the New Forest and Wales. A private or unofficial release could explain how this individual turned up in the capital.
Say “Ahhhh!”
New research has identified the fossil dental records of the oldest known mammal. Brasilodon quadrangularis, a small shrew-like animal that had two sets of teeth, dates back 225 million years, predating Morganucodon, the previously confirmed first mammal, by 20 million years.