The magnetic compass that birds use for orientation is affected by polarised light. This previously unknown phenomenon was discovered by researchers at Lund University in Sweden.
Plants & Animals
Jan 26, 2016
1
50
Scientists have called for a greater international collaborative effort to save the world's migratory birds, many of which are at risk of extinction due to loss of habitat along their flight paths.
Ecology
Dec 3, 2015
0
99
The cuckoo is not only capable of finding its way from unknown locations; it does this through a highly complex individual decision making process. Such skills have never before been documented in migratory birds. A new study ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 20, 2015
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1018
When nocturnal insects make their high-flying journeys through the darkness of night, they may have more than an internal compass to guide them on their way. Researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 31, 2015
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70
A new mystery has been discovered in the migratory behavior of birds! Many songbirds travel long distances during their annual migrations, and it makes sense for them to do everything they can to conserve their energy during ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 12, 2015
3
631
The sight of skilful aerial manoeuvring by flocks of Greylag geese to avoid collisions with York's Millennium Bridge intrigued mathematical biologist Dr Jamie Wood. It raised the question of how birds collectively negotiate ...
Plants & Animals
May 21, 2015
0
26
For more than 50 years, scientists had tantalizing clues suggesting that a tiny, boreal forest songbird known as the blackpoll warbler departs each fall from New England and eastern Canada to migrate nonstop in a direct line ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 31, 2015
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2231
Every year, millions of birds make the journey from North America to Central and South America for the winter. But the evolutionary origins of this long-distance migration have remained opaque due to the complex geographic ...
Evolution
Aug 4, 2014
1
0
Each fall millions of monarch butterflies use a sophisticated navigation system to transverse 2,000 miles from breeding sites across the eastern United States to an overwintering habitat in specific groves of fir trees in ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2014
1
1
A common songbird may have acquired genes from fellow migrating birds in order to travel greater distances, according to a University of British Columbia study published this week in the journal Evolution.
Evolution
Sep 20, 2013
7
0
