Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

May 9, 2023

Scientists discovered a 2,200-year-old condor poop pile in the Andes. Here's what it told them.

For the past 2,200 years, Andean condors (Vultur gryphus), among the largest known flying birds in the world, have been nesting — and pooping — at a cliffside grotto in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Now researchers are studying the massive pile of guano to learn more about the threatened species and...

May 26, 2023

Scientists changed scales on chicken feet to feathers by tweaking a single gene

By tweaking a specific gene, scientists have discovered a way to permanently transform the scales on a chicken's feet into feathers. The results provide new insight into the bird's evolutionary origins from dinosaurs. Like birds, it's clear today that many dinosaurs were partially covered with feathers as well as scales,...

Jun 27, 2023

Adult albatrosses found gnawed to death by mice on 3rd remote island

Adult albatrosses on a remote island are being attacked and eaten by an aggressive invasive species — mice. Invasive mice have been wreaking havoc on the ecosystem of Marion Island — located about halfway between South Africa and Antarctica — for decades, chowing down on native invertebrates and the chicks...

Aug 25, 2023

Animal sex: How birds do it

Sure, birds can fly, but do they have sex? Can they do it in the air? And where do they keep their reproductive organs? To understand how birds have sex, it is necessary to move beyond preconceived ideas of how other animals have sex — particularly mammals. Birds and mammals...

Sep 8, 2023

Moment falcon digs its talons into pelican's head to protect its nest captured in incredible photo

A striking image of a female falcon attacking a brown pelican mid-flight has been named winner of the 2023 Bird Photographer of the Year. The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) can be seen swooping down on the large brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), striking the intruder's head with its talons. Jack Zhi,...

Oct 13, 2023

Upcoming solar maximum could scramble migrating birds' internal compass, new study shows

Migratory birds in the U.S. struggle to properly navigate when solar storms and other types of space weather disrupt their ability to sense Earth's magnetic field, a new study shows. The findings suggest that these birds may be seriously handicapped over the next few years as the sun ramps up...

Oct 26, 2023

1st-known 'highly pathogenic' bird flu cases in Antarctic could threaten penguins

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), a particularly lethal form of bird flu, has been detected in birds in Antarctica for the first time. Researchers with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) made the discovery after investigating reports of illness and unexplained deaths among seabirds on Bird Island, an island in the...

Nov 15, 2023

120 million-year-old birds tracks near South Pole are the oldest ever discovered in the Southern Hemisphere

Researchers have discovered the earliest bird footprints ever found in Australia, showing that these early birds once lived in southern polar regions on the supercontinent Gondwana. Palaeontologists unearthed the bird tracks in Wonthaggi Formation in Victoria, Australia, that date back to around 120 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous...

Nov 27, 2023

Stunning footage captures tiny bird's fight for survival in massive Saharan sandstorm

Incredible, first-of-its-kind footage reveals a tiny swallow's battle for survival inside a mammoth sandstorm as it migrates across the Sahara Desert. The bird, which weighed less than an ounce (28 grams), was recorded while undertaking the most difficult part of its epic journey north for the summer. Every year, European...

Dec 1, 2023

Weird Chinstrap penguins sleep over 10,000 times a day for just 4 seconds at a time

Chinstrap penguins are one of nature's most extreme nappers, snatching more than 10,000 microsleeps lasting up to four seconds long every day, according to a new study. The penguins, which live in breeding colonies each containing tens of thousands of individuals, must remain constantly vigilant against threats to their nests...

Dec 14, 2023

Watch thousands of starlings perform an 'incredible ballet of life and death' in new murmuration footage

Breathtaking new stills and footage capture the beauty and acrobatic skills of tens of thousands of starlings as they swarm and sweep across dusk skies in Europe. The mesmerizing shots were taken by Danish photographer Søren Solkær, who has followed the majestic birds for six years across Europe. Starlings (Sturnus...

Dec 28, 2023

See 'incredible' photos of bird that is both male and female

Researchers have discovered an extraordinary, vibrantly colored tropical bird with female feathers down one side of its body and male feathers down the other. Female green honeycreepers (Chlorophanes spiza) typically have grassy green feathers, while the males are a brilliant blue. However, this individual was green on the left and...

Jan 20, 2024

Loggerhead shrike: The brutal 'butcherbird' that impales its prey on barbed wire

Name: Loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) Where it lives: North America What it eats: Mainly invertebrates, but also small vertebrates including reptiles, amphibians, bats and birds. Why it's awesome: The loggerhead shrike is nicknamed the butcherbird thanks to its rather gruesome practice of impaling its prey on sharp thorns, twigs and...

Feb 3, 2024

Aldabra rail: The bird that came back from the dead by evolving twice

Name: Aldabra rail (Dryolimnas cuvieri aldabranus) Where it lives: Aldabra — a coral atoll off the southeast coast of Africa What it eats: Insects Why it's awesome: Lying off the southeast coast of Africa, north of Madagascar, the coral limestone islands of the Aldabra atoll are home to a humble...

Mar 13, 2024

Watch woodpecker evict starling that stole its nest by yanking it out with its beak

Remarkable footage captures the moment a red-headed woodpecker evicts a starling squatting in its nest by yanking it out of a tree trunk. Woodpeckers and starlings are cavity nesters, meaning they hollow out nesting holes rather than building them from scratch, but starlings often invade other birds' nests and harass...