News tagged with extinct birds

Extinct New Zealand eagle may have eaten humans

(AP) -- Sophisticated computer scans of fossils have helped solve a mystery over the nature of a giant, ancient raptor known as the Haast's eagle which became extinct about 500 years ago, researchers said Friday.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Sep 11, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 3

New species of Pleistocene stork found on 'hobbit' island

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fossils of a giant Pleistocene stork found on Flores island, Indonesia, belong to a new species according to scientists. The now extinct bird was probably flightless, and lived on the same ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Dec 08, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Elephant bird probably wiped out by nest raiders and habitat loss

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sir David Attenborough has returned to the island of Madagascar to discover the fate of the elephant bird, the largest bird ever to live on Earth, and to make a BBC documentary about it: "Attenborough ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 21, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (9) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

Gators Breathe Like Birds: Did Dinosaurs’ Ancestors Inhale Their Way To Dominance?

University of Utah scientists discovered that air flows in one direction as it loops through the lungs of alligators, just as it does in birds. The study suggests this breathing method may have helped the ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jan 14, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Study: Demise of large animals caused by both man and climate change

Past waves of extinctions which removed some of the world's largest animals were caused by both people and climate change, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. Their findings were reported today, 05 ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

An extinct species of scops owl has been discovered in Madeira

An international team of scientists, including some from Majorca and the Canary Islands, have described a new type of fossil scops owl, the first extinct bird on the archipelago of Madeira (Portugal). Otus ma ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists 'rebuild' giant moa using ancient DNA

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have performed the first DNA-based reconstruction of the giant extinct moa bird, using prehistoric feathers recovered from caves and rock shelters in New Zealand.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 01, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (13) | comments 12

History's normal rate of species disappearance is accelerating, scientists say

Biologist E.O. Wilson once pondered whether many of our fellow living things were doomed once evolution gave rise to an intelligent, technological creature that also happened to be a rapacious carnivore, fiercely territorial ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 31, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (16) | comments 11

Rare white kiwi chick hatches at NZ wildlife park

A rare white kiwi chick hatched at a New Zealand wildlife reserve will have a protected early life - unlike wild kiwis that face nonnative predators that are slowly wiping them out, an official said Thursday.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 26, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 5

Scientists tease DNA from eggshell of extinct birds

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a world first, scientists in Australia announced on Wednesday they had extracted DNA from the fossilised eggshells of extinct birds, including iconic giants such as the moa and elephant ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 09, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (14) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Scientists use fossil feathers reveal lineage of extinct, flightless ibis

A remarkable first occurred recently at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History when ornithologists Carla Dove and Storrs Olson used 700- to 1,100-year-old feathers from a long extinct species ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Giant bird feces records pre-human New Zealand

(PhysOrg.com) -- A treasure trove of information about pre-human New Zealand has been found in faeces from giant extinct birds, buried beneath the floor of caves and rock shelters for thousands of years.

Biology /

created Jan 12, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (11) | comments 10

Putting the dead to work

Conservation paleobiologists -- scientists who use the fossil record to understand the evolutionary and ecological responses of present-day species to changes in their environment -- are putting the dead to ...

Biology / Evolution

created Jan 14, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Flightless birds gave up flying after dinosaurs were wiped out

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have assumed the ancestors of modern flightless birds were also flightless, but results of new research suggests they only became flightless and began to explore the ground when ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 22, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (9) | comments 46 | with audio podcast report

Fanged frog, 162 other new species found in Mekong

(AP) -- A gecko with leopard-like spots on its body and a fanged frog that eats birds are among 163 new species discovered last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, an environmental group said ...

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 25, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (6) | comments 0