In many reptiles, sex isn't set by chromosomes but by the temperature at which the eggs incubate. For sea turtles, warm nests produce mostly females and cool nests mostly males. With global warming, the balance is tipping: among young green turtles from some warm beaches, studies have found more than 99% females.
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.