Animals

Study: Red Noses Help Reindeers Cope With Polar Air

It turns out Rudolph wasn't the only reindeer with a bright red nose. All reindeer have red noses, and a new study in the British Medical Journal explains why. Their noses are packed with lots of blood vessels to warm cold air on the way in and soak up heat from their breath as they breathe out.

Blue Whale Barrel Roll Caught On Camera

Reporting in the journal Biology Letters, Jeremy Goldbogen and colleagues say blue whales perform underwater acrobatics when they're eating: they rotate 360 degrees while they gulp krill. Reaching 90 feet in length, blue whales are the largest animals on the planet. Goldbogen is studying their dining habits to understand what fuels their growth.

Russian School Kids Entertain Lion Cub

An elementary school pet is typically an animal that can be kept in a terrarium or small cage. For a short time, some Russian village kids cared for a far wilder creature. They found a lion cub after it escaped from the trunk of a car. Waiting for police to come and take it to a local zoo, the kids played with it in the gym.