Size doesn't matter: island mammals 'dwarfed' by lack of competitors and predators

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The worldacutes smallest elephant Elephas falconeri from the middle-Pleistocene of Sicily.
The world's smallest elephant, Elephas falconeri, from the middle-Pleistocene of Sicily.

The evolution of miniature or 'dwarf' versions of animals like elephants and hippos on islands is caused by lack of competition for food and the absence of predators, and not just because they are too large for their habitats, new research claims today.


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All News summaries for September 25, 2006

Polls may underestimate Obama's support by 3 to 4 percent, researchers say

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(PhysOrg.com) -- Current polls of the presidential election may be underestimating Barack Obama's support by 3 to 4 percent nationally and possibly larger margins in the Southeast and some strongly Republican states, according ...

Unique fossils capture 'Cambrian migration'

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(PhysOrg.com) -- A unique set of fossils indicates that 525 million years ago marine animals congregated in Earth’s ancient oceans, most likely for migration, according to an international team of scientists.

Early planting lets farmers be both mean and green, study shows

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(PhysOrg.com) -- Farmers can be both mean and green when protecting their canola fields from a pesky insect that poses a chronic threat, says a University of Alberta researcher.

Can genetic information be controlled by light?

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Researchers at Kiel University have succeeded in showing that DNA strands differ in their light sensitivity depending on their base sequences. Their results are reported by Nina Schwalb and colleagues in the current issue ...

Transparency in politics can lead to greater corruption

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Why are some countries more prone to political corruption? Viviana Stechina from Uppsala University, Sweden, has investigated why corruption among the political elite was more extensive in Argentina than in Chile during ...
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