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Wandering albatrosses, which are an iconic sight in the Southern Ocean, are highly adapted to long-distance soaring flight. Their wingspan of up to 11 feet is the largest known of any living bird, and yet wandering albatrosses fly while hardly flapping their wings. Instead, they depend on dynamic soaring—which exploits wind shear near the ocean surface to gain energy—in addition to updrafts and turbulence.View the full article -
Fossilized fragments of a skeleton, hidden within a rock the size of a grapefruit, have helped upend one of the longest-standing assumptions about the origins of modern birds.View the full article
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The highly contagious H5N1 avian flu virus has killed thousands of pelicans, blue-footed boobies and other seabirds in Peru, according to the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR).View the full article
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Panama confronts illegal trafficking of animals
PhysOrg posted a topic in Bird Research in the Media
In a tropical forest beside the Panama Canal, two black-handed spider monkeys swing about their wire enclosure, balanced by their long tails. They arrived at this government rehabilitation center after environmental authorities seized them from people who had been keeping them as pets.View the full article -
How picky should females and males be when they choose a mate? How fiercely should they compete for mates? And how much should they engage in raising their offspring? The answers to these questions largely depend on the ratio of adult females to males in the social group, population or species.View the full article
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Environmental disaster struck the shores of Peru on Jan. 15, 2022, when Spanish energy company Repsol spilled 12,000 barrels of crude oil into the Bay of Lima after its tanker ruptured. The spill endangered 180,000 birds and destroyed the livelihoods of 5,000 families.View the full article
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Animals that live fast—that is, frequent or abundant reproduction and short lifespans—are more resilient to human-driven land use changes than those with slow life-histories, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.View the full article
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Canada geese collide with aircraft, intimidate unassuming joggers, and leave lawns and sidewalks spattered with prodigious piles of poop. They're widely considered nuisance birds, and municipalities invest considerable time and money harassing geese to relocate the feisty flocks. But new University of Illinois research shows standard goose harassment efforts aren't effective, especially in winter when birds should be most susceptible to scare tactics.View the full article
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Red knots of all ages and sexes show behavioral traits. These remain mostly unchanged over time but differ across individuals. Some individuals are more adventurous and show more exploratory behaviors a in new environment than others. Other individuals take less risks and hardly dare to move around in a new environment. These "personalities" have ecological and evolutionary consequences, but to what extent is largely unknown, because few studies have investigated this in the field.View the full article
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Research into the complex task of ridding Auckland Island of mammalian pests, as part of the Predator Free 2050 program, is the focus of a New Zealand Journal of Ecology special issue published today, November 28.View the full article
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Many livestock farmers treat their animals with antimicrobial medications. These are drugs that target bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. But using them the wrong way can have unwanted results. Animals are known to develop resistance to the drugs. This resistance has knock-on effects on animal and human health.View the full article
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Nebraska agriculture officials say another 1.8 million chickens must be killed after bird flu was found on a farm in the latest sign that the outbreak that has already prompted the slaughter of more than 50 million birds nationwide continues to spread.View the full article
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As UN climate talks close in Egypt and biodiversity talks begin in Montreal, attention is on forest restoration as a solution to the twin issues roiling our planet. Forests soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide and simultaneously create habitat for organisms. So far, efforts to help forests bounce back from deforestation have typically focused on increasing one thing—trees—over anything else.View the full article
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A proposed measure in Switzerland would have made that country the first to ban medical and scientific experimentation on animals. It failed to pass in February 2022, with only 21% of voters in favor. Yet globally, including in the United States, there is concern about whether animal research is ethical.View the full article
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Over the past three years, Australians have been bombarded by natural disasters as record-breaking fires and monster floods hit communities hard.View the full article
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany, and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology GPS tracked Arctic migratory geese in Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands over the New Year period to examine the long-term impact of fireworks. Their study appears in Conservation Letters.View the full article
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Researchers have shown—for the first time—that less intensively managed British grazed grasslands have on average 50% more plant species and better soil health than intensively managed grassland. The new study could help farmers increase both biodiversity and soil health, including the amount of carbon in the soil of the British countryside.View the full article
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A new study finds that bird species with extreme or uncommon combinations of traits face the highest risk of extinction. The findings are published in the journal Functional Ecology.View the full article
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The European robin's closest relatives are found in tropical Africa. The European robin is therefore not closely related to the Japanese robin, despite their close similarity in appearance. This is confirmed by a new study of the Old World flycatcher family, to which these birds belong. The study comprises 92 percent of the more than 300 species in this family.View the full article
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A fortnight after five lions escaped at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, an amused zoo visitor captured footage of Echo the superb lyrebird as he mimicked alarm sirens and evacuation calls with astonishing accuracy.View the full article
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A trio of researchers from the University of California, Discover Owls and the University of Washington has discovered how great gray owls are able to find and capture voles under two feet of snow. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Christopher Clark, James Duncan and Robert Dougherty describe using acoustic cameras to spatially locate sound sources under the snow.View the full article
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If you see a great bustard (Otis tarda) in the wild, you're unlikely to forget it. Massive, colorful, and impossible to mistake, they are the heaviest birds living today capable of flight, with the greatest size difference between the sexes. They are also "lek breeders," where males gather at chosen sites to put on an audiovisual show for the visiting females, who choose a mate based on his appearance and the quality of his showbirdship.View the full article
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Citizen science is touted as a way for the general public to contribute to producing new knowledge. But citizen science volunteers don't always represent a broad cross-section of society. Rather, they're often white, male, middle-aged, educated and already interested in science.View the full article
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A black bear cub in southeast Alaska was euthanized after it became ill with avian influenza, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said.View the full article
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A September expedition to Papua New Guinea confirmed via video the existence of the black-naped pheasant pigeon, a critically endangered species that has not been reported for 140 years.View the full article
