Africa

Scans of eight fossilized adult and infant Australopithecus afarensis skulls reveal a prolonged period of brain growth during development that may have set the stage for extended childhood learning in later hominins.

Four of six samples from the North Kivu province have tested positive for the virus.

The Bombali Ebola virus was identified in bats in Sierra Leone, and there’s no evidence that it has infected people or causes human disease.

Researchers froze the fertilized eggs, taken from southern white rhinos, in hopes of preserving the near-extinct northern subspecies.

Although more evidence is needed to pin down a cause, researchers suspect that climate change is to blame.

Compared with their urban counterparts, babies and toddlers in rural Nigeria have gut microbiota that more closely resembles that of adults in their community.

The World Health Organization predicts the number of cases in Democratic Republic of Congo will rise up to 300 by July.  

Ornithologists tagged 27 juvenile birds to track the way they use updrafts of air heated by the sun to migrate over long distances.

A total of 27 people have died since April, but new funds and the deployment of an experimental vaccine are expected to help contain the virus.

The country’s health ministry and the World Health Organization rush to contain the new outbreak.

A pair of calves was born about eight months ago in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park.

Only two members of the subspecies are now left alive.

Conflict threatens already at-risk wildlife populations and conservation efforts in war-torn areas.

A genetic library for African rhinoceros populations has helped match illegally trafficked products to individual poached animals in more than 120 criminal cases. 

From DNA evidence, researchers estimate the split from other species took place between 260,000 and 350,000 years ago.

The composition of the gut microbiota varies by time of year and is more diverse than that of industrialized groups.

The infectious disease scientist spent seven years in the U.S. before returning home to establish a thriving center for research and help lead the fight against malaria.

When thousands of animals die during mass migrations, ecosystems accommodate the corpses and new cycles are set in motion.

When scores of migrating wildebeest fail to survive a treacherous river crossing, their corpses fuel thriving ecosystems.