Jeholornis was a raven-sized bird that lived 120 million years ago, among the earliest examples of dinosaurs evolving into birds, in what's now China. The fossils that have been found are finely preserved but smashed flat, ...
Evolution
Oct 24, 2022
0
243
Monarch butterflies and their close relatives thrive on poisonous milkweed, thanks to genetic mutations that block the effects of the plant's toxins while allowing the poisons to accumulate in the caterpillar or adult insects ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 22, 2021
1
293
A multi-institutional, international team of evolutionary biologists, genetics specialists and phylogenomicists has found evidence that bird species began diversifying long before the dinosaurs went extinct.
In the 1980s there were just ten or so pink pigeons left in the wild. Known to scientists as Nesoenas mayeri, the species is found only on Mauritius, the Indian Ocean island that was once home to the dodo. Like the dodo, ...
Plants & Animals
May 13, 2022
0
7
Animals often use vocalizations to warn of nearby danger to others. While this information is generally intended for members of the same species, other species can eavesdrop on the warnings to use the information for their ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 30, 2023
0
206
The evolutionary origin of endothermy (the ability to maintain a warm body and higher energy levels than reptiles), currently believed to have originated separately in birds and mammals, could have occurred nearly 300 million ...
Evolution
Dec 13, 2021
0
7411
A challenge among three housemates to identify species around their inner-Brisbane home has resulted in an academic research paper, showcasing the rich biodiversity in urban landscapes.
Ecology
Dec 7, 2023
0
341
A team of researchers at the Memorial University of Newfoundland has found that the ring-billed gull is able to pass a widely used cognitive test called the string-pull test. They describe their results in a paper published ...
The rapid extinction of giant animals including wombat-like creatures as big as cars, birds more than two meters tall, and lizards more than seven meters long that once roamed the Australian continent is a puzzle that has ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 13, 2021
2
296
When a University of Michigan-led research team reported last year that North American migratory birds have been getting smaller over the past four decades and that their wings have gotten a bit longer, the scientists wondered ...
Ecology
Jun 21, 2021
2
382
