Clever Birds use Weight and Sound when choosing their Nuts

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE 05.26.2015 15:09 PM

In yet another example of avian ingenuity, researchers from Poland and Korea have discovered that birds have the ability to use weight and sound to distinguish more desirable peanuts from their less desirable counterparts.

Embryological Manipulation Reveals Chicks Can Have Prehistoric Looks

05.13.2015 13:23 PM

One of the latest breakthroughs from Yale scientists: the mighty dino-chicken. The Yale team used molecular manipulation to grow chicken embryos with Velociraptor snouts and published their results yesterday in the journal Evolution. The embryos did not hatch.

New Sensitivity Study May Reveal ‘Terror Birds’ Hunted In Packs

04.11.2015 18:30 PM

News this week revealed a frightening new addition to the fossil record—a “Terror Bird” species known more scientifically as Llallawavis scagliai (aka Scaglia’s Magnificent Bird). But in spite of its massive size and terrifying stance, this top-tier predatory may not have been the most well-adapted hunter that it could be… That is, unless it was hunting in packs.

Giving a Voice to Long-Lost—New ‘Terror Bird’ Species Reveals a Knack for Being on the Hunt

04.11.2015 15:42 PM

Think that we’ve found just about every prehistoric species that there is to find? You’d be terrifyingly wrong if you said yes. In fact, adding a new view on the diversity of some unlikely large predators that predate humans, a new fossil this week revealed another species of South American “terror birds” known as Llallawavis scagliai.

The Nonstop Flight Down South—How One Songbird Species Commutes Thousands of Miles Without a Break

04.01.2015 13:02 PM

Think that you’ve got a long commute into the office every morning? Think again. While you may be used to sitting in traffic for hours on end, it turns out that one little songbird’s lengthy migration will put your commute to shame.

The NonStop Flight Down South—How One Songbird Species Commutes Thousands of Miles Without a Break

03.31.2015 22:39 PM

Think that you’ve got a long commute into the office every morning? Think again. While you may be used to sitting in traffic for hours on end, it turns out that one little songbird’s lengthy migration will put your commute to shame.

The Curious Case of Birds—How Evolution Has Led to Less Differences Than Charles Darwin Thought

03.28.2015 14:09 PM

It’s a well-known fact that in nature it’s often the boys that have the better looks. Without the task of investing their energy and resources into the next generation of children males are able to reallocate their resources into preening and looking pretty. But it’s a curious case that is far from what the original evolutionary biologists once thought.

Myanmar Bird Fools Scientists Who Thought That It Was Extinct

03.08.2015 19:17 PM

A bird that scientists believed to have gone extinct decades ago has been rediscovered in Myanmar, after a team of scientists used a recording of its distinctive call to track it down.

The Chicks With All of the Tricks—Spatial Strategies & Number Mapping

02.01.2015 18:08 PM

When it comes to cognition, there are few answers on the origins of many behaviors. Neurobiology and social anthropology help researchers understand the development of speech, the correlation of objects or words with physical entities, and even the emergence of faiths. However, when it comes to something as simple as a number line, which is virtually a universal means of discerning small numbers from larger numbers, researchers are stumped. And looking to nature for the answer, a new study published this week in the journal Science, discovered just how universal these number lines are.

Think That Chicks Are Just Plain Cute? Well It Turns Out That They Have a Knack for Numbers Too

01.30.2015 20:32 PM

While it may take children a couple of years to learn the true values of arithmetic, a new study conducted by ethologist Dr Rosa Rugani, from the University of Padova, reveals that newborn chicks can not only recognize number patterns but also place them in ascending order from left to right. In fact, while the cognitive ability to count may seem like an acquired trait taught to us in school, Rugani’s recent experiments prove that even those with bird brains can display a knack for “number mapping”.

Unusual Sightings in the Annual Bird Count

01.08.2015 18:25 PM

The annual Audubon Bird Watch is a 115-year-old tradition that unites bird watchers from all corners of North America, to catalog their sightings. And this year lead to some usual avian leads.

Chatty Zebra Finches May Slur Their Speech When Drunk, But Then Again Who Doesn’t?

12.31.2014 14:58 PM

Well, they may not be the normal bar hoppers you’re likely to spot out on New Year’s Eve, but a new study shows that when zebra finches imbibe even just a bit, they won’t likely pass a sobriety test no matter how high their tolerance. Spiking the drinks of the small Darwinian subjects, researchers with the Oregon Health & Science University found that after drinking even small amounts of liquor the birds were less inclined to fly around but certainly slurred their songs and chirps with a distinct drunken vibe.

A Holiday Filled With Chirps & Cheer—The Christmas Bird Count

12.21.2014 14:13 PM

When it comes time to the Christmas season, people innately begin counting the birds: four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and whole lot of other species. But if you’re an ornithologist, then the holiday season also marks an important time for bird-watching. Waking up before sunrise and catching a glimpse of the black-necked stilts or the white-tailed kites may be a part of your daily agenda, but when Dec. 14 rolls around you’re ready for day long adventures to camp out and count the local bird species in the skies.

Warblers Flee, As Warnings from Mother Nature Reveal Coming Storms

12.20.2014 20:20 PM

In the study of ecology, it’s long been known that animals have a sort of sixth sense above and beyond what humans can perceive. Perhaps through the aid of their keen senses of smell or their abnormally acute sense of hearing, animals such as dogs are able to sense the presence of cancers, the onset of seizures, and even changes in the climate. But in a new study led by UC Berkeley ecologist Henry Streby, it’s birds that are sensing a change. Golden-winged warblers to be exact.

Genomic Study Reveals Pre-Cambrian Explosion of Bird Species, Who Faired Better than Gentle Dinosaurs

12.14.2014 21:02 PM

They’re far from the scaled reptilian giants that once walked the Earth, but for decades researchers have sought out an evolutionary connection between our winged bird species of today and the dinosaurs that once took flight in prehistoric times. For the past four years, a team of international researchers have fully developed The Avian Phylogenomics Project, in which they have sequenced genomes of nearly all species of the evolutionary branches including a majority of birds known to man. Now that the research is done, the mapping of 48 bird species genomes has evolved into more than two-dozen articles published in the journal Science, as well as a new understanding of how birds may link to their dinosaur ancestors.