Category: Eco Tonics

Mosquitoes all around the world kill more people than any other animal. They are the carriers of many fatal diseases. To control mosquito population, there are chemical pesticides available that are sprayed in mosquito breeding areas using trucks, airplane or backpack sprayer. But these pesticides, along with mosquitoes kill other insects as well. So researchers are busy finding alternate methods to keep a check on these deadly creatures.  

Researchers are trying to unlock the mysteries of the brain that makes an individual to select a potential mate and study how these processes of selection differ in male than that of the female. The topic sounds interesting, however, studying humans for the purpose is rather difficult and so researchers are studying fruit flies to understand different events during courtship that might be apropos to humans and other creatures as well. 

According to a latest research, pollution and other odors causes hindrance for insects in search of flowers to feed on. In a joint study, researchers from the University of Arizona and University of Washington studied tobacco hornworm moths (Manduca sexta) while they searched and interacted with flowers. The moth likes to feed on nectar from the plants like the Sacred Datura, which usually are seen growing hundreds of meters apart. Therefore, the moth uses its sense of smell to locate flowers. Researchers observed that the moth could locate the scent…

It is a well known fact that spiders are insectivorous and part of their diet also includes plant material like pollen. But not everyone knows that spiders like to go for fishing too. According to a study conducted by Martin Nyffeler who is a spider expert and Zoologist at the University of Basel, Switzerland and Bradley Pusey, a fish expert coming from the University of Western Australia discovered that a few large sized spider varieties include small fish in their diet too. They have recorded incidents of spiders hunting fish from all the continents except Antartica. Majority…

Katydids (better known as bushcricket) are nocturnal insects and are predominantly known for their loud mating or love calls. These calls are produced when the males looking for females, rub their forewings together (stridulation). 

A new study suggests that like humans, chimpanzees are also very particular about their bed. Chimpanzees unlike humans are known to create their bed every day starting from scratch just before their bedtime. The exclusive chimpanzees beds are called nests and it require bending, breaking stems of tree, and piling leaves in an interwoven pattern, on this structure. But researchers noticed that chimpanzees do not make their nest on any random tree, rather choose branches of Ugandan ironwood trees for the purpose. These trees provided them with sturdy and stable…