Birds (class Aves) are a clade of endothermic, egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, a lightweight but strong skeleton with pneumatic bones, and forelimbs modified as wings. They possess a highly efficient respiratory system with air sacs and unidirectional airflow, a four-chambered heart, and high metabolic rates supporting sustained activity and, in most species, powered flight. Reproduction is oviparous with hard-shelled, calcium-rich eggs and extensive parental care. Birds exhibit diverse morphologies and ecological strategies, yet share key synapomorphies such as feathers and a furcula, reflecting their origin within theropod dinosaurs.
England's last recorded pair of golden eagles lived in the Lake District. After the female died in 2004, the male was left alone for 12 years before his death in 2016.
Ecology
Apr 20, 2026
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A migratory bird brain, the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), has been mapped for the first time using high-resolution light microscopy. The open-source software tools developed, and the detailed processes published, ...
Biotechnology
Apr 20, 2026
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A study reported in Current Biology shows how physical disabilities in the animal world can be overcome through behavioral innovation. The report features an endangered kea parrot in captivity at New Zealand's Willowbank ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 20, 2026
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The outbreak of a mysterious and deadly disease in finches in British gardens in 2005 set alarm bells ringing for conservationists. A decade later, the extent of that disease in greenfinches and chaffinches was reported. ...
Ecology
Apr 18, 2026
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314
Along the stark and shimmering coastline of the Dead Sea, where desert cliffs meet one of the world's most extreme environments, a quiet drama is unfolding in the skies above. Fan-tailed ravens, intelligent, adaptable, and ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 18, 2026
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Like many animals, parrots make sounds that suggest they are talking with each other, maybe even calling out to a specific parrot. But do they truly have names in the same way people do? To find out, Lauryn Benedict, a biology ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 17, 2026
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Does a male bird with a long and complex courtship dance have superior cognitive abilities? Simply put, is a talented dancer a smarter bird? To answer the question, researchers at Université de Montréal studied the zebra ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 17, 2026
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The south coast of South Africa's Western Cape province is a rich source of fossil tracks and traces—clues suggesting what this environment may have been like many thousands of years ago.
Paleontology & Fossils
Apr 16, 2026
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Red foxes and birds regularly cross between human-dominated and natural ecosystems. For this reason, they may be heralds of spreading antibiotic resistance into ecosystems unexposed to antibiotic pressures, a study done in ...
Ecology
Apr 16, 2026
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An international group of scientists mapped the spread of the current dominant strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus through North American bird populations in 2024. Led by scientists from St. Jude Children's ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Apr 15, 2026
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