Elaborate plumage due to testosterone?

(PhysOrg.com) -- In many bird species males have a more elaborate plumage than females. This elaborate plumage is often used to signal body condition, to intimidate rivals or to attract potential mates. In many cases plumage ...

Bird song-sharing like verbal sparring

While singing the same songs as your neighbours may sound harmonious, research conducted at Queen's University Biological Station (QUBS) suggests that song-sharing amongst song sparrow populations is actually an aggressive ...

Brainy lizards pass test for birds

Tropical lizards may be slow. But they aren't dumb. They can do problem-solving tasks just as well as birds and mammals, a new study shows.

Birdsong independent of brain size

(PhysOrg.com) -- The brains of all vertebrates display gender-related differences. In songbirds, for example, the size of the brain areas that control their singing behaviour could be linked to the size of their song repertoires. ...

Parents' social problems affect their children -- even in birds

A recent study performed by Floriane Guibert and Cecilia Houdelier at the CNRS-University of Rennes in France, together with researchers at the INRA in Nouzilly, France and with Austrian scientists including Erich Mostl of ...

Ugly Betty forced to aim for Average Joe

Less-pretty female house sparrows tend to lower their aim when selecting a mate. Addressing the lack of studies on condition-dependency of female mate choice, researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary ...

Migrating birds can't control themselves

During the Spring and Fall migratory seasons, sparrows become significantly less capable of resisting temptation. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience investigated impulse control and sleep in White-crowned ...

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