The largest reptile in North America, the iconic American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is considered to be a living fossil, having survived on Earth in the same form for 200 million years (2) (4). The name ‘alligator’ derives from the Spanish ‘el lagarto’ meaning ‘the lizard’, while the species name means ‘of the Mississippi’ (5). Though often confused with various crocodile species, the American alligator can be distinguished by its rounded snout, and by the fact that when the jaws are closed, none of the lower teeth are visible (6). Leer más.

Although native enemies in an exotic species’ new range are considered to affect its ability to invade, few studies have evaluated predation pressures from native enemies on exotic species in their new range. The exotic prey naiveté hypothesis (EPNH) states that exotic species may be at a disadvantage because of its naïveté towards native enemies and, therefore, may suffer higher predation pressures from the enemy than native prey species. Leer más.

Llama la atención la ausencia de la gambusia, una especie de la que en el Atlas del MARM y el CSIC se afirma que «desplaza a los ciprinidontiformes autóctonos y que es una de las principales causas de que en la actualidad estén en peligro de extinción». Leer más.

Animals make daily choices about when, where or with whom to engage in basic activities like eating, hibernating, mating, migrating or resting. Those choices are often strongly tied to highly specific cues – e.g., air temperature, tree density, location of water, or smell of other individuals. And it happens to hair lice jumping from head to head among school kids, or to caribou forming their winter herds prior to the seasonal migration. Leer más.