Frontiers | Science news

Adult Cooper’s hawk dispatching a house sparrow. Image: Vladimir Dinets.

Street smarts: how a hawk learned to use traffic signals to hunt more successfully

Dr Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist who studies animal behavior, ecology, and conservation, is the author of a recently published Frontiers in Ethology article that documents the impressive adaptation of an avian newcomer to the city. A Cooper’s hawk appears to have learned how to use traffic signals and strike at smaller birds precisely when cars at an intersection lined up.

A mother and baby humpback whale in Kiama, New South Wales, Australia. Photograph by Vanessa Risku - Instagram: droning_my_sorrows

Baby on board: humpback whales give birth while migrating and carry on travelling

Humpback whale population’s recovery could reveal we were wrong about where humpback whales give birth — tropical waters aren’t the only nursery.

Social grooming between two chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest. Photograph by Dr Elodie Freymann.

Chimpanzees use medicinal leaves to perform first aid

Scientists observed chimpanzees in Uganda apparently cleaning and treating their own and others’ wounds.

Dr Kit Prendergast with a sweep net. Photo by Kate Leaver/NBC.

Environment

Published on 19 May 2025

‘Every single species is a unique product of evolution, like a work of art’: how Dr Kit Prendergast champions bees and biodiversity

Macrophotography and bee hotels introduced Dr Kit Prendergast to the world of native bees. Inspired, she began her PhD on protecting native bee biodiversity in urbanised habitats, and investigating the role of the introduced European honey bee on indigenous bee biodiversity and pollination networks. Since completing her PhD, she has worked in diverse roles as an ecological consultant, working to conduct native bee research for not-for-profits, environmental consultancies, Landcare groups, and local and state government, as well as with research institutions. She was awarded a Federal Government Grant to lead a project using bee hotels to help with the recovery of native cavity-nesting bees after the 2019/2020 bushfires. She is also a prolific science communicator, and has won a number of awards for her articles and scientific outreach.