In 2006, two female Komodo dragons kept in zoos, with no recent access to males, laid viable eggs. Genetic tests confirmed parthenogenesis: the hatchlings carried only their mother's DNA. All were male, a quirk of the species' sex chromosome system. In the wild, this could allow a lone female to found a new population.
In 2022, a young tagged bar-tailed godwit flew from Alaska to Tasmania in about 11 days of nonstop flight, covering 13,560 km without eating, drinking or landing. Before departure, these birds pile on huge fat reserves and shrink their digestive organs, which are useless during the journey.
To escape rivals, a dung beetle rolls its ball of dung in a straight line. At night, it holds its course using the glowing band of the Milky Way. In a planetarium, researchers showed that beetles rolled straight under a starry sky but wandered aimlessly when the galaxy was switched off. It was the first animal known to navigate this way.