Stuart Blackman

Recent articles by Stuart Blackman

Nose to tail, Brookesia nana is just 22mm in length. © Frank Glaw

9 of the new species described so far in 2021

Crown shyness, where tree branches don't overlap. © Jordan Lye/Getty Images

Biological terms glossary: definitions, with examples

Eurasian water shrew. © Creative Nature NL/Getty

Eurasian water shrew guide: diet, how they’re adapted to water and why they’re venomous

A child in a forest glade on a summer day in northern Sweden (Västerbotten). © Marcus Lindstrom/Getty

Greenery boosts children’s immune systems

A North American beaver drags small birch branch toward lodge in pond near Wonder Lake on autumn evening, Denali National Park, Alaska, USA. © Paul Souders/Getty

Beavers’ activities can create oases and limit spread of US wildfires

Elephants in Botswana. © Getty

Male elephants’ educational role more crucial than previously thought

California two-spot octopus. © Phil Garner/Alamy

Insects & Invertebrates

Why do female octopuses die after reproducing?

Thistle-down velvet ant. © Joseph S. Wilson

Remarkable similarity between fluffy ant and fruit is not due to mimicry

Pelophylax nigromaculatus frog. © Shinji Sugiura

Aquatic beetle survives being swallowed alive by frogs

Sinistral Jeremyl on top of a dextral snail. © Angus Davison/University of Nottingham

How Jeremy the ‘shellebrity’ snail found fame and advanced scientific understanding

Garden cross spider. © Klaus Vartzbed/Getty

Spider research shows that invertebrate decline is a tangled web

Aye-aye on a palm frond, Masoala Peninsula, Madagascar. © Thorsten Negro/Getty

Why do aye-ayes have such weird hands?

Red-billed oxpecker on black rhinoceros in Kenya. © Martin Harvey/Getty

Oxpeckers provide an anti-poaching warning system for black rhinos

A ring-tailed lemur troop at Berenty Private Reserve, Madagascar. © Anup Shah/Getty

Pheromone identified in ‘stink flirting’ lemurs

ockchafer (melolontha melolontha) ©Getty

Insects & Invertebrates

Cockchafer guide: how to identify and where to see