Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 4, 2021

Fowl play? 'Bird of the Year' winner in New Zealand contest is a bat

When is a bird not a bird? When it's a bat, according to a New Zealand contest that just named a highly endangered bat Bird of the Year. Pekapeka-tou-roa, or New Zealand's long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus), weighs about 0.4 ounces (11 grams) and a fully grown adult is about the...

Nov 4, 2021

How did birds survive the dinosaur-killing asteroid?

When the dinosaur-killing asteroid collided with Earth about 66 million years ago, it triggered a slew of horrific events — shockwaves, wildfires, acid rain, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and nuclear winter-like conditions — that killed about 80% of all animal species. But, mysteriously, some dinosaurs survived: the birds. But why did...

Nov 14, 2021

Tangled bald eagles crash land on Minnesota street

A pair of bald eagles interlocked their talons during a territorial dispute — or potentially a lover's dance — and crash-landed as a tangled duo onto a Minnesota street early this month. A small crowd soon assembled where the bald eagles fell, near the intersection of 41st Avenue and Nathan...

Nov 15, 2021

How do cuckoos trick other birds?

Cuckoos are masters of deception. When it comes to raising their young, these birds don’t need to build a nest, protect their eggs or feed their offspring. Instead, female cuckoos pass these roles onto unsuspecting victims. Cuckoos are brood parasites, meaning they don’t raise their own young. They lay their...

Dec 1, 2021

Biggest eagle to ever live plunged headfirst into dead prey to eat the organs

The biggest eagle that ever lived hunted like its modern relatives but feasted like a vulture, new research shows. The extinct giant, known as Haast's eagle, gripped and pierced living prey with its sharp talons and beak. But it ate its kills like a vulture would have, slashing into the...

Jan 5, 2022

Thousands of starlings form 'bent spoon' swarm over Israel

For a brief moment in Israel last week, an enormous black shape resembling a twisted teaspoon darkened the sky. This was not the work of a spoon-bending telepath, but arguably something much cooler: tens of thousands of migrating starlings, swooping and swarming through the sky together in a type of...

Jan 14, 2022

These birds have been singing the same songs for literally a million years

A million years ago, the soundtrack of the sky island mountains of East Africa may have been very similar to what it is today. That's because a group of tiny, colorful birds has been singing the exact same tunes for more than 500,000 years — and maybe as long as...

Feb 2, 2022

10 of the biggest birds on Earth

Some of the biggest birds on Earth can stand taller than any NBA player and spread their wings wider than kings size bed. There are almost 10,000 species of birds on Earth and they come in all different shapes and sizes — from the tiny bee hummingbird to the massive...

Feb 16, 2022

Watch amazing video of cockatoos that learn to play 'golf'

In an incredible (and perhaps disconcerting) video, a Goffin's cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana) named Figaro plays a game of putt-putt golf. With seeming ease, the bird places a ball on a platform before using a stick to sweep it into a hole. Researchers say that studying such behaviors in birds may...

Apr 28, 2022

Crows and ravens took over the world because they're spookily smart (and brawny, too)

Crows and ravens have taken over the world in part because they're so big and brainy, new research suggests. Researchers found that crows and ravens have bigger wingspans, brains and bodies than other birds in the Corvidae family. We hypothesize that these three very convenient combinations of traits are what...

May 23, 2022

Why do parrots live so long?

Parrots are exceptionally long-lived, sometimes becoming septuagenarians or even octogenarians. In animals, longevity is often linked to a larger body size, but parrots often live as long as larger birds and much longer than birds of comparable size. So, why do parrots live so long? They're already known for their...

Jun 8, 2022

All hail the hen! Chickens were revered for centuries before they were food

Chickens' first relationship with humans may not have been as a platter of wings or a pair of tasty drumsticks. Researchers have found that people initially saw these now-ubiquitous birds as exotic, and they venerated and even worshiped them. These first domesticated chickens weren't the hefty, fast-growing birds of today....

Jul 15, 2022

Someone decapitated a gaggle of geese in Idaho, and wildlife officials seek answers

A grisly and unusual wildlife crime took place in Idaho over July 4th weekend: Someone mowed down a gaggle of Canada geese — including goslings — with a vehicle, and before fleeing the scene, the perpetrator decapitated many of the birds and apparently removed their heads from the site. The...

Aug 4, 2022

Whooo Knew? 10 Superb Facts About Owls

Introduction (Image credit: Markku Ulander/AFP/Getty)Owls have enjoyed the spotlight around game day ever since wordsmiths, including late-night comedian Stephen Colbert, began using the phrase Superb Owl as a way to get around saying the trademarked term Super Bowl. These wordsmiths were onto something. Owls are beloved by many, even more...

Sep 13, 2022

Tenacious 'trash parrots' locked in escalating 'arms race' with humans Down Under

Residents in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, are in the midst of an escalating feud with a neighboring population of wild sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) over an unlikely prize: household trash. While this conflict may sound comical, researchers report that it shows all the signs of an innovation arms race,...