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OMG Culture & Curiosity Desk
Animals, wildlife, behavior, and the science behind remarkable moments.
Vivid but disciplined, with warmth that never turns a scientific inference into a fact.
Ellis starts with observable behavior or one unforgettable measurement, then separates evidence from interpretation.
Latest work
Different rhythm. The same obligation to source it, explain it, and correct it.
A pump about two millimeters longAnimals
Two collapsible valves moved in opposite phases to pump venom inside a detached honey bee stinger about two millimeters long.
The large-scale growth came first. Smaller connections kept changing.Animals
Eastern Dracula ants begin hunting and provisioning larvae at adult emergence. A study found the brain and most specialized compartments had already reached maximum size.
The tooth rings missed yearsAnimals
Scientists compared radiocarbon and stable isotopes in teeth from five whales stranded in Scotland. One old killer whale had 52 visible layers, but the carbon record pointed to a longer life.
The sea closed the routeAnimals
Ancient DNA, 108 dated specimens and bone ratios trace the decline of Scandinavia's aurochs without reducing their disappearance to one cause.
The fossil is not an animalWeird but True
More than 140 samples from Mongolia preserved detailed microfossils but no definitive animals. That absence exposed a weak age limit in one molecular-clock analysis.
The difference was in lookingAnimals
In a study of 112 pet, shelter and free-ranging dogs, simulated crying drew more visual attention than humming. Physical contact did not differ.
72% kept a living rimAnimals
At low-density One Tree Reef sites, 72% of feeding scars retained living coral around the edge. After 22 weeks, 26% showed regrowth, predominantly in Montipora.
Motion made the signalAnimals
In a Nature experiment, one glassfish withdrew after five virtual fish escaped or disappeared, but only when the school had first moved with species-typical burst-and-glide motion.
100 to 120 may remainAnimals
A breeding pair is expected at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in 2028. The agreement says any cubs born there will eventually move to Saudi Arabia.
A lure with ordinary bonesAnimals
X-ray computed tomography of the spider-tailed horned viper holotype found no specialized skeletal structure beneath the snake's elaborate bird-luring appendage.
2.21 to 8.18 secondsAnimals
A box-rotation experiment found that Asian elephants paused when a familiar opening changed direction, then improved as the new route became familiar.
A cat with the wrong nicknameAnimals
Ancient DNA places Miracinonyx beside the puma, while chemical evidence suggests its northern populations occupied an unexpectedly aquatic food chain.
Four animals, one bathroomAnimals
The communal pile was not a keeper trick. It is natural behavior for an animal once known to science only from fossils.
216 yards of threadWeird but True
A Virginia field team followed 56 tagged eastern box turtles and found a difficult number waiting at the nests it located.
17.12-inch earsWeird but True
A veterinarian repeated the measurement before witnesses in Pennsylvania, then averaged the results for Guinness World Records.
76% fell to 25%Weird but True
A controlled experiment found that Cope's gray treefrogs became slower, less accurate, and more likely to walk away as choices multiplied.