Stress hormones help lizards escape from fire ants

New research shows that when some fence lizards are attacked by fire ants they 'stress out' - a response that actually helps the species to survive by heightening the animal's awareness of imminent danger. Tracy Langkilde, assistant professor of biology at Penn State University, found that lizards living in areas of the southeastern United States, where large numbers of fire ants also live, have elevated levels of stress hormones, called glucocorticoids...

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