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.
Even in protected areas, birds are disappearing from America's prairies, and unpredictable weather isn't helping. That's the takeaway from a new study by researchers at Michigan State University, Oklahoma State University ...
Ecology
Aug 25, 2026
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A researcher has developed a new, reproducible workflow that lets ecologists measure, in a standardized way, how individual animals within a species differ in their habitat use, based on GPS tracking data. The tool was developed ...
Ecology
Aug 25, 2026
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When a young golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) finally leaves its parents' territory, it leaves behind the only safety net it has ever known. Until now, biologists had assumed that eagles took this step as soon as they could ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 25, 2026
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Dung beetles could provide scientists with a new way to uncover the animals living in Singapore's forests, including elusive species that are difficult to spot with conventional wildlife surveys. NTU researchers found that ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 24, 2026
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Scrambling through dense salal in the dark, weaving between the majestic western red cedars of northern Haida Gwaii, I could barely imagine where we were just days before—crossing Dixon Entrance off the coast in an open skiff, ...
Ecology
Aug 22, 2026
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71
If you're not a bird person, you may not be able to distinguish between the different sounds birds make. Birdsong—the courting and territorial vocalization of songbirds—has been studied for decades, but less is understood ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 20, 2026
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On a warm evening in May, swifts scream over rooftops, chasing insects above the traffic. A fox slips along a garden wall while gulls squabble on a supermarket roof. We tend to treat these animals as visitors. But they're ...
Ecology
Aug 19, 2026
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Yesterday, I woke to a cold, damp Canberra morning—and silence. The trees around my home were empty of feathered silhouettes. Even the usual bright-eyed, warble-voiced magpies were absent.
Plants & Animals
Aug 18, 2026
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A major push is underway to catch and vaccinate more than 5,000 little penguins in Victoria to protect them against the virulent H5N1 bird flu.
Ecology
Aug 18, 2026
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51
When people think about climate change and animals, they might picture melting sea ice, drought-stricken landscapes or species struggling in the wild. Far less attention is given to the animals living in our care. Yet as ...
Ecology
Aug 17, 2026
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