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Animals

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The best new popular science books of June 2026

The most exciting popular science reads this month explore everything from symbiosis to hormones, while Alice Roberts takes on an editor-in-chief role in her latest book

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Himalayan wolf-dog hybrids emerge as a threat to wolves and people

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Lascaux Cave is a Palaeolithic cave situated in southwestern France, near the village of Montignac in the Dordogne region, which houses some of the most famous examples of prehistoric cave paintings. Close to 600 paintings ??? mostly of animals - dot the interior walls of the cave in impressive compositions. Horses are the most numerous, but deer, aurochs, ibex, bison, and even some felines can also be found. Besides these paintings, which represent most of the major images, there are also around 1400 engravings of a similar order. The art, dated to c. 17,000 ??? c. 15,000 BCE, falls within the Upper Palaeolithic period and was created by the clearly skilled hands of humans living in the area at that time. The region seems to be a hotspot; many beautifully decorated caves have been discovered there. The exact meaning of the paintings at Lascaux or any of the other sites is still subject to discussion, but the prevailing view attaches a ritualistic or even spiritual component to them, hinting at the sophistication of their creators. Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979, along with other prehistoric sites in its proximity. Valley, France.

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Â鶹´«Ã½ recommends a smart new account of human exceptionalism

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Extinct relative of koalas discovered in Western Australia

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The greatest David Attenborough documentaries you really need to watch

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Â鶹´«Ã½ recommends New York’s Bone Museum and Gecko Gallery

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2M3EH4G A recreation of various fighting dinosaurs. Detail of a diorama at the Gorodskoy Muzey, Museum, in Temirtau, Kazakhstan.

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Why dinosaurs lived much more complex lives than we thought

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Scorpions reinforce their claws and stingers with metals

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Chimpanzee group’s violent rupture hints at evolutionary roots of war

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Emperor penguins added to endangered list after rapid decline

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has updated the Red List status for three of Antarctica’s most famous species after a dire assessment of their prospects under climate change

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Surprise fossil discoveries push back the evolution of complex animals

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Bumblebees surprise scientists by showing a sense of rhythm

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What to read this week: Lixing Sun’s ambitious On the Origin of Sex

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Male octopuses have a favourite arm that they mostly use for sex

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