A new study provides evidence that pigeons tackle some problems just as artificial intelligence would – allowing them to solve difficult tasks that would vex humans.
Read the latest research news on air pollution, nanoplastics, waterborne illnesses and more in the Pollution channel on Newswise.
Scientists discover genes that help kingfishers dive without hurting their brains
The prime directive for Project FeederWatch has been and continues to be gathering data about how bird populations and distributions are changing across the United States and Canada—vital information for conservation.
Tropical forests are among the most important habitats on our planet. They are characterised by extremely high species diversity and play an eminent role in the global carbon cycle and the world climate.
Predators must eat to survive — and to survive, prey must avoid being eaten. One theory, the Wolf-Mangel model, suggests predators could use false attacks to tire prey out or force them to take bigger risks, but this has been hard to show in practice.
It's tough to catch the eye of a potential mate when you’re dressed all in black with no fancy feathers to jiggle around. But a tiny bird called the Blue-black Grassquit has found a way. Learn about this fascinating species during the 2023 Paul C. Mundinger Distinguished Lectureship presented by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
For the first time, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) are being used to model hidden patterns in nature, not just for one bird species, but for entire ecological communities across continents. And the models follow each species’ full annual life cycle, from breeding to fall migration to nonbreeding grounds, and back north again during spring migration.
His mind might have been set on finding water or on perfecting a song he learned as a chick from his dad. But all of that gets pushed down the to-do list for an adult male zebra finch when he notices a female has drawn nigh.
One result of climate change is that spring is arriving earlier. However, migratory birds are not keeping up with these developments and arrive too late for the peak in food availability when it is time for breeding.
Powerful X-rays generated at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory help researchers shed new light on feather evolution.
Palaeontologists at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland have discovered X-ray evidence of proteins in fossil feathers that sheds new light on feather evolution.
The bright lights of big cities could be causing an evolutionary adaptation for smaller eyes in some birds, a new study indicates.
This article reviews conservation measures taken in recent decade to protect waterbirds in China's coastal wetlands and provides recommendations for future conservation action from three aspects: policy and administration, habitat conservation and management, and multiparty participation.
Jackdaws ditch old friends and make new ones if it helps them get rewards – but stick with family through thick and thin, new research shows.
A study shows nest temperatures affect leatherback hatchling shape, performance and nest success. Lower temperatures produced longer hatchlings; highest temperatures produced hatchlings with thicker body depths. Hatchlings from the highest nest temperatures had shorter flippers.
For the first time, researchers have estimated the Spotted Owl population across the entire Sierra Nevada ecosystem.
Birds native to the tropical Andes, many of which cannot be found anywhere else, are threatened by increasing agricultural development in the region.
A study done on 336 cities in China concludes that heat-retaining buildings and paved surfaces are directly related to a loss in bird diversity. It is likely that the patterns documented in this study are occurring in other large cities across the globe that have abundant asphalt, steel, and concrete with little green vegetation
A Cornell research team has developed a new way to design complex microscale machines, one that draws inspiration from the operation of proteins and hummingbird beaks.
Vultures are often associated with death, but some vulture species are themselves at risk of extinction. What can their fate tell us about the interaction between humans and the natural world in our time?
Scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have developed a novel way to model whether the populations of more than 500 bird species are increasing or decreasing.
City life favors species that are adaptable and not too fussy about what they eat, among other characteristics. A worldwide consortium of scientists calls the resulting collection of traits an "Urban Trait Syndrome."
The Department of Didactics of Mathematics, Experimental and Social Sciences has analysed the knowledge of birds of secondary school students, and their attitude towards conservation. Students have shown that they have scant knowledge about bird migration and species identification, and despite their good environmental attitudes, many consider that conservation efforts are excessive and hamper economic development.
Birds can be electrocuted if they come into contact with two energized parts of a power line at once—which can happen when they spread their wings to take off from or land on a power pole.
About 15 years ago, researchers reported that the timing of spring in high-Arctic Greenland had advanced at some of the fastest rates of change ever seen anywhere in the world.
Researchers are still puzzling over how animal collectives behave, but recent advances in machine learning and computer vision are revolutionizing the possibilities of studying animal behaviour. Complex behaviours, like social learning or collective vigilance can be deciphered with new techniques.
Over the last 30 years European breeding birds have shifted their range by, on average, 2.4km per year, according to new research.
Algorithms can predict what movies or songs you might like, but they can also predict which species a predator would most likely eat.
In 2020, Tufts Wildlife Clinic Director Maureen Murray, V03, published a study that showed 100% of red-tailed hawks tested at the clinic were positive for exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). Such exposure occurs when these chemicals are used to kill mice or rats, which eat the poison, and the birds eat the poisoned prey. Now, Murray is expanding that research with a new study published recently in the journal Environmental Pollution, which found that another type of rodenticide—a neurotoxicant called bromethalin—also can bioaccumulate in birds of prey.
We all discard a huge amount of plastic and other man-made materials into the environment, and these are often picked up by birds. New research has shown that 176 bird species around the world are now known to include a wide range of anthropogenic materials in their nests.
The material a bird selects for its nest depends on the dimensions of its beak, according to researchers.
A new published paper in the journal Wildlife Society Bulletin states that, despite the resurgence of bald eagle populations, exposure to lead ammunition fragments in wild game gut piles and carcass parts is not only sickening and killing bald eagles but also is making the birds more susceptible to other dangers.
New research led by the University of Washington uses data collected by coastal residents along beaches from central California to Alaska to understand how seabirds have fared in recent decades. The paper, published July 6 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, shows that persistent marine heat waves lead to massive seabird die-offs months later.
The extensive study assessed the movements of 7,137 individual birds from 77 species of petrel, a group of wide-ranging migratory seabirds including the Northern Fulmar and European Storm-petrel, and the Critically Endangered Newell’s Shearwater.
Efforts to improve sage grouse habitat through conventional management practices may be ineffective -- and even counterproductive -- according to research by University of Wyoming and other scientists.
The recent tragic loss of the Titan submersible in the depths of the North Atlantic has brought the fascinating (and very dangerous) world of Oceanography and Marine Science to the forefront. Below are some recent stories that have been added to the Marine Science channel on Newswise, including expert commentary on the Titan submersible.
Teaching machine learning tools to detect specific objects in a specific image and discount others is a “game-changer” that could lead to advancements in cancer detection, according to leading researchers from the University of Surrey.
In Physics of Fluids, researchers develop a model to explore the forces and flow structures created by penguin wings underwater. Penguin can adjust swimming posture by active wing feathering, pitching, and flapping and their dense, short feathers can also lock air between the skin and water to reduce friction and turbulence. The hydrodynamic model takes in information about the flapping and feathering of the wings and, using the immersed boundary method, solves for the motion of the wing and the thrust, lift, and lateral forces.
If urban landfills disappear under the new European regulation, some endangered birds such as the Egyptian vulture will need alternatives to their feeding patterns in order to survive in the future.
Pseudo-nitzschia spp., an algae that produces the neurotoxin domoic acid, can bioaccumulate within food webs causing harm to humans and animals. A molecular study of Florida’s Indian River Lagoon shows this algae was present in 87 percent of the water samples collected. All isolates showed toxicity, and domoic acid was found in 47 percent of surface water samples. As a nursery for many organisms that supports a high amount of biodiversity, the presence of domoic acid could negatively impact the lagoon system.
As we enter the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere and the possibility of extreme heat becomes more common, it’s important to stay up-to-date on the science of heat waves and take measures to protect ourselves from this growing public health threat.
Although the prehistoric site of Eynan-Mallaha in northern Israel has been thoroughly examined since 1955, it still holds some surprises for scientists. Seven prehistoric wind instruments known as flutes, recently identified by a Franco-Israeli team.
Dreams have been considered a hallmark of human sleep for a long time. Latest findings, however, suggest that when pigeons sleep, they might experience visions of flight. Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence studied brain activation patterns in sleeping pigeons, using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Several animal species display brood care, a phenomenon where ‘caring’ parents provide their offspring with food and protection against predators.
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have discovered H5N1 avian influenza viruses gained the ability to cause severe disease and target the brain in mammals as they spread across North America.
Oxytocin, the so-called “love hormone,” plays a key role in the process of how a young zebra finch learns to sing by imitating its elders, suggests a new study by neuroscientists at Emory University. Scientific Reports published the findings, which add to the understanding of the neurochemistry of social learning.
Current conservation practices likely won’t do enough to save the black tern, a migratory bird species that nests in the northern U.S. and southern Canada, from disappearing. That’s according to new research from Michigan State University and the National Audubon Society published in the journal Biological Conservation. But the team’s report also reveals new opportunities to enhance the outlook for these birds by strategically expanding conservation and land management practices. Furthermore, the team’s approach can help inform conservation practices for other species.
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