feathered

By Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology and Evolution at Seoul National University February 5, 2024A collaborative study introduces the ‘flush-pursue hypothesis’ to explain the evolutionary origins of wings and tails in birds, tracing back to feathered dinosaurs. The hypothesis, supported by robotic simulations and biological studies, suggests that proto-wings and tail feathers were used to flush out prey, enhancing foraging efficiency. This discovery adds a new dimension to our understanding of dinosaur behavior and the…

A study using a robot dinosaur named Robopteryx to mimic ancient dinosaur behaviors has provided new insights into the evolution of feathered wings. Researchers found that small, feathered proto-wings may have been used by dinosaurs to startle prey, supporting the hypothesis that such wings evolved for reasons other than flight. Credit: SciTechDaily.comNew research suggests feathered dinosaurs used proto-wings and tail feathers to flush out prey, supporting the ‘flush-pursue hypothesis’ for the evolution of bird wings and…

As It Happens6:18Domesticated parrots who video call 'friends' feel less lonely: studyPolly want a cracker? Maybe after a FaceTime catchup with an old friend.According to a recent study at Northeastern University in Boston, parrots that have been taught to contact their feathered peers with a video call app showed signs of feeling less isolated or lonely.Parrots are a highly social species, said Northeastern University assistant professor and co-researcher Rébecca Kleinberger.Many parrot species live in large flocks —…

On Saturday 13 December 1958, the People’s Republic of China declared war on a bird. Mobilisation was total: 600 million enlisted for the fight. Their target was a tiny songbird, between five and six inches long: the Eurasian tree sparrow. It might seem like overkill, writes Stephen Moss in his history of human-avian relations, but in the eyes of China’s leaders the sparrows more than deserved it. An estimated 1.5m tonnes of grain disappeared down the gullets of said feathered gourmets each year. China was short on food –…

People in the neighbourhood were complaining about the noisy monstrous machines. Powerful, heartless machines were busy flattening the ground of the only empty plot in our lane. It would be wrong to call the plot empty, though. “No humans lived on it” is a better way of describing the situation. All I could hear was the sound of trees being forcefully uprooted, one by one, by these ugly machines. In spite of all the resistance being offered by the trees, their deep strong roots were ruthlessly pulled out of the soil.…