News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Imagine you are a young Bar-tailed Godwit, a large, leggy shorebird with a long, probing bill hatched on the tundra of Alaska. As the days become shorter and the icy winter looms, you feel the urge to embark on one of the most impressive migrations on Earth: a nonstop transequatorial flight lasting at least seven … Read more
From our long lives to our social skills and even language, zoologist Antone Martinho-Truswell argues that we are more like birds than we think Humans 9 March 2022 By Simon Ings EVOLUTION has created a living world of jaw-dropping diversity. It has also generated what seem like astonishing coincidences. The pangolins of Africa and armadillos … Read more
Goose bones from Stone Age China suggest the birds were being domesticated there 7000 years ago, which could mean they were domesticated before chickens Humans 7 March 2022 By Michael Marshall Chinese geese (Anser cygnoides f. domestica) blickwinkel/AGAMI/M. Guyt/Alamy Geese may have been domesticated as early as 7000 years ago in what is now China, … Read more
When we attached tiny, backpack-like tracking devices to five Australian magpies for a pilot study, we didn’t expect to discover an entirely new social behavior rarely seen in birds. Our goal was to learn more about the movement and social dynamics of these highly intelligent birds, and to test these new, durable and reusable … Read more
It’s a common pattern during hunting season in the winter: Hunters shoot elk or deer, then eagles scavenge the waste. That scavenged meal may have deadly consequences for eagles, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The researchers detected high rates of lead poisoning among the two most common types of eagles in … Read more
Goffin’s cockatoos have edged parrots closer to corvids in the battle of the brainiest birds, by revealing their extraordinary ability to use composite tools. Using more than one tool simultaneously played a huge role in humanity’s technological development, but it’s a skill that’s rarely been observed in other animals. Chimps are a rare example, using … Read more
This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Emily Schwing. Have you ever looked up to see a hawk soar overhead, or a small chickadee flit by and wondered: How do they do that? Believe it or not, scientists never really knew either—until now. Talia Lowi-Merri: I looked at the relationship between form and function in … Read more
Hacking coughs, uncontrollable sneezing, high fevers and pounding headaches can make anyone miserable – even a dinosaur. Recently, researchers identified the first evidence of respiratory illness in a long-necked, herbivorous type of dinosaur known as a sauropod, which lived about 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago) in what is now … Read more
New Scientist’s weekly round-up of the best books, films, TV series, games and more that you shouldn’t miss Humans 2 February 2022 Read Strange Bedfellows accompany many of us through our lives, yet most of us know next to nothing about common sexually transmitted infections. Ina Park aims to change all that in this upbeat … Read more
A survey of birds entering an Australian animal hospital shows a huge number of them carry chlamydia, including strains never seen before in Australia Life 31 January 2022 By Alice Klein The laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), native to Australia electra kay-smith / Alamy Nearly one-third of hospitalised Australian birds are carrying chlamydia, including some novel … Read more