Birds, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2009

Penguin Poop Monitored from Space

Stains of penguin poop visible from space are helping scientists map emperor penguin colonies, shedding light on how the flightless birds are adapting to environmental changes. The emperor is the giant of the penguin world and one of the largest of all living birds. Emperor penguins spend a large part...

Jan 31, 2009

Giant Flying Reptiles Had Bird-Like Air Sacs

Long before birds took flight, giant reptiles called pterosaurs dominated the skies. Their wingspans varied widely, ranging from that of a sparrow to that of a Cessna. A study last month suggests the birds, some as tall as giraffes, got airborne by virtue of a leap-frog maneuver, relying on all...

Oct 31, 2010

'Match.com for Penguins' Breeds Success at New England Aquarium

The New England Aquarium's most successful African penguin breeding season recently ended with the birth of 11 new chicks, according to aquarium biologists. Those 11 hatchlings have since grown into juveniles and rejoined their parents in the aquarium's African penguin exhibit. [Related: Flightless Birds: All 18 Penguin Species ] This...

Sep 30, 2010

New Homes Built for Endangered Galapagos Penguins

In an attempt to boost the population of endangered Galápagos penguins, researchers have been building new nests for them on the islands. Biologists hope that the nests will help increase the population of the endangered Galápagos penguins,which have experienced a population decline of more than 50 percent since the 1970s,...

Sep 30, 2010

Price to Save Species Put at 10 Times Present Spending

World leaders failed to meet a 2010 target for cutting global biodiversity losses, but researchers say that conservation efforts still managed to stave off extinction for some species. Now they warn that countries must spend 10 times as much on conservation to halt the loss of plants and animals in...

Aug 31, 2010

Earth's Penguins Skating on Thin Ice

If the harrowing plight of emperor penguins portrayed in the film March of the Penguins looked bad, it's nothing compared with the dire straits faced by many other penguin species. Of the 18 penguin species on Earth, 13 are considered either threatened or endangered, with some species on the brink...

Aug 31, 2010

Why Do Bird Flocks Move in Unison?

Every autumn, flocks of birds begin to migrate to warmer territories. But how do they stay in such perfect formation? The impressive, perfectly timed flight maneuvers of bird flocks, as well as their symmetrical group formation, can be summed up in a simple model, according to researchers from Budapest, Hungary....

Jul 31, 2010

Mice Learn to Sniff Out Bird Flu

Mice in a Pennsylvania lab recently passed a significant, if potentially unpleasant, smell test when they learned to detect the odor of bird flu infection in duck droppings. This feat builds on previous evidence that animals can sniff out disease, and it raises hopes that trained animals — most likely...

Jun 30, 2010

Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?

Woodpeckers hit their heads up to 20 times a second. But muscles, bones and an extra eyelid protect their small bird brains. Strong, dense muscles in the bird's neck give it strength to repeatedly thump its head. But it is extra muscles in the skull that keep the bird from...

Feb 28, 2010

Dinosaurs Had Wrists Like Birds

The flexible wrists of birds that let them fold their wings have now been seen in dinosaurs well before flight, scientists find. Dinosaurs such as Velociraptor might have partly folded their feathered arms to protect such plumage from harm's way, researchers explained. The wrists and the feathers in the lineage...

Feb 28, 2010

Pigeons Beat Humans at Solving 'Monty Hall' Problem

Pigeons might do better than humans at game shows, at least on Let's Make A Deal. These new findings — involving the pigeons superior ability to solve a perplexing statistical problem — might in turn shed light on why humans are bad at solving certain kinds of problems, scientists added....

Jan 31, 2010

Pudgy Birds May Migrate Faster

A little extra weight may be a good thing if you're a small migrating bird. Fatter birds of certain species migrate faster than thinner ones, because the chubby birds need less time to stop and replenish their fat reserves, a new study suggests. The study looked at the garden warbler,...

Nov 30, 2011

After Century's Absence, Seabirds' Return Surprises Scientists

Earlier this year, government scientists discovered a welcome bundle of joy: a nest of seabird chicks on the Channel Islands off California's coast. This is the first time baby birds of this species have been seen here since 1912. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Park...

Sep 30, 2011

Like Humans, Abused Baby Birds Grow Into Bullies

Much like humans, birds that are abused as tots are more likely to become abusers later on, a new study finds. Adult Nazca boobies, seabirds that live in colonies on the Galapagos Islands, often beat up on their neighbors' young. The new research finds these bullied nestlings turn into bullies...

Jul 31, 2011

Gigantic Birds Trod Earth During Age of Dinosaurs

An enormous bird, taller than an adult human, walked the Earth (and maybe flew above it) more than 80 million years ago, according a newly discovered fossilized jaw. The finding suggests oversize birds were more common during the Age of Dinosaurs than scientists thought. Scientists have long known that birds,...