Most alligators remain paired to their mates for life

October 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A decade long study on alligators has finally led to the conclusion that the they are as loyal to their mating partners as birds. Scientists from the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory claim that up to 70 percent of females chose to remain with their partner for maximum time.

October 1st, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Heavy rains continued to lash most parts of Orissa for the third consecutive day Thursday affecting normal life, officials said. Heavy downpour was experienced especially in the coastal districts under the effect of low pressure that has formed over the Bay of Bengal, off the south Orissa and north Andhra Pradesh coast.

September 23rd, 2009 MELBOURNE - Tourism Queensland has received more than 20,000 applications following its announcement that one person and three of their friends can become caretaker Ben Southall's best mates in an all-expenses-paid, seven-week holiday to the Whitsundays. The tourism officials have received applications from 142 countries, including Venezuela, Bosnia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Australia.

September 21st, 2009 SYDNEY - Kim Beazley, who will take up the position of Australian Ambassador to the United States in February 2010, has said that Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and US president Barack Obama are unlikely to become close mates. Beazley, a keen student of US politics, reckons that it's not Obama's style to pick close mates from among world leaders.

August 1st, 2009 LONDON - A woman called Jeanette Rivera has been nicknamed the Gator Whisperer, for she leaves many tourists awestruck by her expertise at calming alligators, with whom she gets up close and personal with ease. The 5ft 2in beauty can do various stunts with the creatures fearlessly.

July 27th, 2009 LONDON - Peter Crouch will have a medical today before sealing a 13 million pound return to Tottenham. According to The Sun, Crouch, 28, will be reunited with Spurs boss Harry Redknapp for the fourth time in his career on wages in excess of 70,000-pounds-a-week.

July 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has announced that reintroduced Chinese alligators have started to multiply in the wild in China, which has given them a new chance for survival. The WCS's Bronx Zoo, in partnership with two other North American parks and the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Management of the State Forestry Administration of China, has successfully reintroduced alligators into the wild that are now multiplying on their own.

May 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Fifty-one percent of Americans consider themselves "pro-life" and just 42 percent say they are "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority in the country has stated a personal objection to abortion since Gallup polls began tracking the data 15 years ago, Fox News reports. The numbers correspond with FOX News polls this month showing 49 percent of Americans as pro-life and 43 percent as pro-choice on abortion.

April 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Looking for a partner? Well, then go for a mate who is conscientious and, perhaps, also neurotic, suggests a new study. Researchers report that having a conscientious partner may actually be good for one's health.

April 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have studied alligators to analyze what life may have been like for dinosaurs at low oxygen levels of 12 percent during pre-historic times. The scientists chose the alligator as a test subject for the study because they are believed to be the modern relatives of the dinosaurs.

April 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The size of males' feather crests in a breed of northern seabird is not just simple ornamentation, but a physical indicator of the bird's quality as a mate, according to a study by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. For a long time, scientists have known that female auklets prefer males with larger crests, but they have been unaware of the reason behind it to date.

April 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has revealed that female orang-utans test potential mates by snatching food from the males, which enables them to find out whether they would react violently or tolerate the stealing. Maria van Noordwijk, who authored the study at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, revealed that the females would scream and tended to end the interactions when the males reacted violently or took the food back.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The eyespots of some butterflies serve to both attract mates and ward off predators, according to new research by Yale University biologists. The researchers say that butterflies seem able to both attract mates and ward off predators by using different sides of their wings.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Butterflies can entice potential mates or repel predators by using different sides of their wings, according to new research. Reconciling these two contradictory functions has been one of nature's ancient dilemmas, said Jeffrey Oliver, post-doctoral associate in Yale University department of ecology and evolutionary biology and co-author of the study.

January 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Followers are just as important as leaders themselves in any undertaking, said a new study on stickleback fish, busting the myth of born leaders. Random pairing of fishes has shown how each member adopts the role of leader or follower.