Beki Hooper

Writer

Beki has a PhD in cognitive evolution and a double master's degree in evolutionary biology. She writes about human and animal evolutionary biology, genetics and genomics, psychology, cognition, conservation and animal ethics.

Great white shark DNA study mystifies scientists

Great white shark DNA tells two different stories of the species’ evolutionary history, and scientists don’t know why.

“If they don’t find a meal within one hour, they might die”: Meet the world’s 10 greediest animals

No matter their size, some animals simply need to eat a lot of food in order to survive – here are the greediest animals in the world

The bizarre blue blood of a prehistoric-looking ‘living fossil’ has saved millions of human lives – here’s how it works

The blood of this marine creature has several special features – including its bright blue hue

"That’s the length of a double decker bus!" 33ft monster tops biggest snakes in the world list

Discover the biggest snakes in the world including the reticulated python and green anaconda

Suffer from stress? At least you don’t shoot blood or ooze a stinky liquid from your rear – unlike these animals

Do animals get stressed? They might, explains Beki Hooper, but they show it in very different ways to humans

How Burmese pythons are able to to swallow and digest prey as large as cattle, bones as well, has long mystified scientists – until now...

Unique bone-digesting ability discovered in python bellies

Blind dragon-like creatures found crawling through South Korean caves

Four species of blind cave-dwelling pseudoscorpions with dragon-like jaws have been discovered in South Korea.

Wild killer whales filmed offering food to humans – here's what scientists think it means

Researchers found 34 instances of killer whales approaching humans with a range of food items, including dead fish and birds, stunned stingrays and incapacitated sharks.

Evolution experts say wild tomatoes in Galápagos are going 'back in time'

The curious 're-evolving' plants are growing on the archipelago's younger volcanic islands.

Could rabies have entered Britain? Rabies-causing virus found in Isle of Wight animal

Isle of Wight bat displayed worrying symptoms

Who would win in a fight between two of the world's most fearsome predators – a saltwater crocodile or a great white shark?

These deadly apex predators are at the top of their food chains – so who would win in a fight?

“We’re not trying to recreate a species from ancient DNA scraps”: One of Earth’s rarest animals could be brought back from the edge of extinction

It's all thanks to the creature's cells being frozen over a decade ago, as part of a process called biobanking.

Why are so many ginger cats male? Scientists think genetic mutation has something to do with it

The Arhgap36 gene was being studied by researchers in cancer and developmental biology at Stanford Medicine.

Humans are not the only animals to wipe their bums – stunned scientists film chimps wiping their nether regions with leaves

Amazing new footage highlights chimp hygiene and medicinal behaviours.

Amazing videos show flamingos making underwater tornadoes to catch prey

By foot-stomping and head-jerking, flamingos create vortexes that help them catch their food.

Puzzling sound leads Amazon expedition team to stunning discovery

Researchers were exploring the remote Juruá River Basin when a strange call caught their attention.

This fossilised 'hell ant' found in a Brazilian museum has been hiding a mighty secret

Experts say the 113-million-year-old fossil is the oldest ant specimen ever discovered.

Curious animal isolated for 40,000 years found living in Rocky Mountains

Researchers think the creature managed to survive in a glacial ‘refuge’, a pocket of land that didn't freeze over during the last ice age.

In 2013, dozens of dolphins mysteriously died in Florida – scientists just figured out why

Researchers have finally solved the decade-long puzzle of why so many of Indian River Lagoon’s dolphins died in a single year.

DNA reveals extraordinary way ancient iguanas made epic 5,000-mile journey to Tonga and Fiji

Millions of years ago, iguanas hitched a ride across the Pacific Ocean to colonise new land – they are the only land-based species known to have made this monumental journey.

Why is the ocean salty?

Beki Cooper explains why our seas are salty when our rivers aren't

How DNA extracted from forest air could help protect one of West Africa's rarest animals

By analysing DNA collected from air and soil samples, scientists can figure out if any of it belongs to the West African chimpanzee, which in turn can help inform conservation efforts.

How being stressed helps monkeys in Costa Rica survive severe droughts

In a new study, researchers found that white-faced capuchins who had higher levels of stress hormones in previous droughts were more likely to survive a severe drought.