Stringing together meaningless sounds to create meaningful signals was previously thought to be the preserve of humans alone, but a new study published in the journalPLOS Biology reveals that Australian babbler birds are also able to communicate in this way. Researchers at the Universities of Exeter and Zurich discovered that the chestnut-crowned babbler (pictured) – […]
Re-examination of a sparrow-sized fossil from China has led researchers to challengethe commonly held belief that birds evolved from ground-dwelling dinosaurs that gained the ability to fly. Researchers Stephen Czerkas of the Dinosaur Museum in Utah, and Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina, say that the birdlike fossil is actually not a dinosaur, […]
For the first time, scientists have found ticks infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever on migratory birds that fly between Africa and Europe. The Swedish researchers who made the discovery say the ticks could be the source of contagion behind recent hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in Southern Europe. Details of this new disease vector appear in the […]
A Goffin’s cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana) named Figaro has been observed spontaneously making and using tools for reaching food and other objects. Figaro, who lives in Vienna, was reared in captivity and animal behaviorists are unclear as to how he acquired his DIY skills. The researchers that documented his tool making abilities, from the Universities of […]
Birds and dinosaurs are more closely related than previously thought, say scientists who claim that modern birds are, essentially, living juvenile dinosaurs. According to Harvard’s Arkhat Abzhanov, Associate Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, the evolution of birds is the result of a drastic change in how dinosaurs developed. Rather than taking years to reach […]
Birds such as the Cirl Bunting and Dartford Warbler are becoming more common across a wide range of habitats in Britain as temperatures rise, while numbers of some northern species, such as the Fieldfare and Redwing, are falling, say researchers at Durham University. The researchers looked at twenty-five year population trends of 42 bird species […]
The latest issue of the journal Ecology carries a study showing that migratory birds in urban areas are choosing to stay-put rather than hit the road on their usual migratory journeys. Working with European blackbirds (Turdus merula), researchers Jesko Partecke and Eberhard Gwinner, conclude that the new adaptive traits could lead to the production of […]
