Tag Archives: birds

Dinosaurs such as Diplodocus Might Have Been as Vibrantly Colored as Birds

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Illustration of a sauropod depicting skin pigment structure as observed under an electron microscope (inset)

Tess Gallagher

Microscopic features discovered in the fossilized skin of sauropods indicate that these colossal dinosaurs might have exhibited colors as vibrant as certain modern birds.

Tess Gallagher, a professor at the University of Bristol in the UK, analyzed sauropod skin fossils estimated to be around 145 million years old, retrieved from the Mother’s Day Quarry in Montana during 2019 and 2022.

While the exact species of the fossil remains uncertain, it is presumed to possibly belong to diplodocus.

The researchers used a scalpel to extract small fragments from the fossil’s four scales, which they investigated with a scanning electron microscope, enabling them to observe cellular details.

Gallagher explained that the skin had been preserved in three dimensions, rather than as mere impressions. Additionally, it exhibited signs of various melanosomes, cellular structures that store melanin, responsible for pigmentation in skin, hair, eyes, and feathers.

“We anticipated finding only minimal melanin traces,” she remarks. “What we uncovered is evidence suggesting sauropods harbored diverse melanosome shapes, which ultimately implies a broad spectrum of color possibilities.”

Every specimen examined by the research team contained melanosomes, primarily in two configurations: rectangular and disc-shaped. Nevertheless, the precise coloration of these sauropods’ skin remains unconfirmed; the structural variety merely indicates potential for numerous shades.

“A diplodocus would have possessed a highly textured exterior showcasing latent color patterns and a wide range of hues,” declared Gallagher.

According to Gallagher, the closest analogy for a disc-shaped structure is the platelet melanosome found in the feathers of contemporary birds. These findings suggest that diplodocus melanosomes might have facilitated the development of various colors. “These creatures could have boasted more striking color patterns, as opposed to the drab gray commonly attributed to ancient fossils.”

Mike Benton, another researcher from the University of Bristol not involved in the study, noted that the shape of the described structures and their preservation suggest they are likely melanosomes.

The researchers are “understandably cautious in their conclusions, but this could represent the first documented instance of colored melanosomes in a sauropod dinosaur,” he remarked.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Study Suggests Birds Might Possess a Basic Form of Conscious Perception

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Among them is a new paper published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Researchers Gianmarco Maldarelli and Onur Güntürkün from Ruhr University Bochum emphasize three key areas where birds exhibit significant parallels with mammalian conscious experience: sensory consciousness, the neurobiological foundation, and the nature of self-consciousness.

Maldarelli and Güntürkün demonstrate that there is increasing evidence that (i) birds possess sentience and self-awareness, and (ii) they also have the necessary neural structures for these traits. Image credit: Kutte.

First, research on sensory consciousness reveals that birds do not just automatically respond to stimuli; they also experience them subjectively.

Similar to humans, pigeons can alternate between different interpretations of ambiguous visual signals.

Moreover, crows exhibit neural responses that reflect their subjective perception rather than just the physical presence of a stimulus.

At times, crows consciously recognize a stimulus, while at other times, they do not; certain neurons activate specifically in correspondence to this internal experience.

Second, bird brains possess functional components that satisfy theoretical requirements for conscious processing, despite their differing structures.

“The caudolateral nidopallium (NCL), which is akin to the prefrontal cortex in birds, features extensive connectivity that allows for flexible integration and processing of information,” noted Güntürkün.

“The avian forebrain connectome, illustrating the complete flow of information among brain regions, shows numerous similarities to those of mammals.”

“As such, birds fulfill criteria outlined in many established theories of consciousness, including the global neuronal workspace theory.”

Third, more recent studies indicate that birds may exhibit various forms of self-awareness.

While certain corvid species have successfully passed the traditional mirror test, alternative ecologically relevant versions of the test have unveiled additional self-awareness types in other bird species.

“Research has demonstrated that pigeons and chickens can differentiate their reflections in mirrors from real-life counterparts and respond accordingly,” explained Güntürkün.

“This indicates a fundamental sense of situational self-awareness.”

The results imply that consciousness is an older and more prevalent evolutionary trait than previously believed.

Birds illustrate that conscious processing can occur without a cerebral cortex, achieving similar functional solutions through different brain architectures.

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Gianmarco Maldarelli and Onur Gunturkun. 2025. Conscious birds. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 380 (1939): 20240308; doi: 10.1098/rstb.2024.0308

Source: www.sci.news

New Insights into Why Birds Sing at Dawn

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Zebra finches are commonly studied in captivity by biologists

Alamy

The morning chorus of birds has captivated poets and nature enthusiasts for centuries, yet the reasons behind this daily ritual remain unclear.

Recent experiments on zebra finches (Teniopygia guttata) indicate that even though darkness suppresses their songs, these birds experience a heightened inclination to sing at night, culminating in vocal bursts once night descends. Furthermore, the study implies that practicing their vocalization in daylight enhances their singing performance.

Satoshi Kojima and his team from the Korea Brain Research Institute in Daegu, South Korea, examined zebra finches raised in a lab with carefully controlled lighting to alter their light-dark schedules.

Initially, they postponed the bright light exposure for the finches by three hours from natural dawn. Under the fabricated darkness, the birds were awake yet silent, but once the light activated, they chirped more energetically than usual.

When the lights were turned on three hours prior to actual dawn, the finches resumed singing, although not as fervently as before.

Kojima explains that a longer delay between the birds waking and the onset of light results in a more intense dawn chorus.

“The birds remain awake in the dark before light arrives,” he notes. “Their natural inclination to sing is hindered by darkness, and this suppression amplifies their eagerness to sing, leading to a surge in singing immediately after the lights come on.”

The researchers subsequently trained the birds to pull a lever for 10 seconds of artificial light. When the simulated dawn was postponed by three hours, the birds engaged with the lever more often; conversely, when it was advanced, they used the lever less frequently.

The scientists administered Luzindole, a drug that counteracts melatonin, which is released at night and regulates awake cycles in numerous animals. Finches treated with the drug five hours before their normal light time awakened earlier and began to sing sooner than those given a saline solution.

Kojima and his colleagues also scrutinized the finches’ songs to observe alterations throughout the day. They discovered a notable shift in song structure between the first and second hours after dawn.

“Due to the lack of singing at night, the vocal motor system and song acoustic structure may experience slight degradation, but the dawn chorus rapidly restores or enhances them,” Kojima remarks.

While this research focused on a single species, Kojima believes that analogous factors could influence other birds. “Considering the simplicity of these mechanisms and their functional implications, we propose that they may underlie dawn choruses across various avian species.”

However, Diego Gil from the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, Spain, advises caution. “There are numerous differences among species regarding the how, when, and what they sing during their dawn chorus,” he says. “This diversity accounts for the 11 different hypotheses put forth to explain the phenomenon.”

Gill commended the study, noting that it demonstrates an increased inclination for birds to sing during pre-dawn hours. “If zebra finches experience extended nights without singing, they become more motivated to vocalize,” he explains. “They also indicate that these prolonged nights exceed their sleep requirements, prompting them to sing when given the chance.”

However, the study does not conclusively show that the purpose of the dawn chorus is to refine the birds’ songs, Gill adds. “Although these song structure alterations are believed to enhance the vocalization, there is no data to confirm that females favor these changes,” he notes. “The study merely suggests that songs evolve gradually over time.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Scientists Suggest Total Solar Eclipse May Prompt Dawn Behavior in Birds

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On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse interrupted the daylight cycles of North American birds as they prepared for spring breeding. Researchers at Indiana University, after analyzing over 10,000 community observations and utilizing artificial intelligence to examine nearly 100,000 bird calls, discovered that bird behavior was significantly impacted by the few minutes of unexpected afternoon darkness. More than half of the bird species altered their biological rhythms, leading many to produce dawn choruses in the aftermath of the eclipse.

Circles indicate individual observations from the SolarBird app submitted on April 8, 2024. Image courtesy of Aguilar et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adx3025.

The daily and seasonal rhythms of birds are closely regulated by variations in light and darkness.

What occurs when these cycles are abruptly disrupted, such as during a total solar eclipse?

Previous research has explored the effects of solar eclipses on animal behavior, yet many studies have only provided scattered or anecdotal insights regarding animal responses.

Indiana University researcher Liz Aguilar and her team viewed the total solar eclipse in April 2024 as a unique research opportunity, offering an unprecedented natural experiment to observe how birds react to sudden light changes.

In preparation for the solar eclipse that would cast nearly four minutes of darkness over large regions of the central and eastern United States, they developed a smartphone app called SolarBird, which allows users to document bird behaviors in real time during the eclipse.

The citizen scientists’ contributions resulted in almost 10,000 observations spanning 5,000 km along the eclipse’s path.

Simultaneously, researchers deployed autonomous recording devices across southern Indiana to capture the calls of about 100,000 birds before, during, and after the totality.

These recordings were analyzed using BirdNet, an AI system capable of identifying species calls and measuring vocal activity.

Findings revealed that 29 out of 52 species detected exhibited significant changes in their singing behavior at various points during the event, although the eclipse’s effects varied among species.

In the moments leading up to the eclipse, 11 species were found to sing more than usual as darkness approached.

During the four minutes of darkness, 12 species reacted—some becoming silent, while others increased their vocal activity.

The most notable responses were observed after the sun re-emerged, with 19 species adjusting their songs to mimic a false dawn chorus.

Notably, barred owls hooted four times more frequently than usual, while robins—renowned for their pre-dawn melodies—hooted six times more than normal.

“These patterns indicate that the solar eclipse temporarily reset the internal clocks of certain birds, causing them to act as if a new day had commenced,” the researchers stated.

Their paper was published in the October 9, 2025 edition of the journal Science.

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Liz A. Aguilar et al. 2025. Total solar eclipses trigger dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and crowd science. Science 390 (6769): 152-155; doi: 10.1126/science.adx3025

Source: www.sci.news

Document the Struggle to Safeguard Endangered Birds in New Zealand

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Rangers aiming to install stoat traps in the KEA Basin, New Zealand

Robin Hammond/Panos Photos

A massive conservation initiative is being undertaken throughout New Zealand to eliminate invasive species, allowing various native and endangered birds to thrive.

Kiwis that live on the ground

Robin Hammond/Panos Photos

The nationwide predator eradication initiative, documented by photographer Robin Hammond, boldly aims to exterminate three invasive species introduced by humans: rats, stoats, and possums. These predators have decimated the populations of ground-nesting birds like kiwis. This ambitious plan includes the controversial aerial application of sodium fluoroacetate poison targeting these mammals (as seen in the main image).

Biodiversity Ranger Steven Cox releases a young kiwi

Robin Hammond/Panos Photos

“It’s conservation through culling,” states Hammond. “It’s a tough choice, yet inaction leads to significant losses in our bird populations.”

Efforts are also focused on ensuring kiwis and other birds are large enough to withstand mammalian predation (as shown above).

Staff releasing Takahe birds

Robin Hammond/Panos Photos

In the wild, kiwi eggs have only a 5% chance of maturing into adults. However, adult birds like the non-flying hawk (as shown above and below) have significantly better survival rates.

Conducting a final health assessment and attaching transmitters to Takahe birds

Robin Hammond/Panos Photos

Stuffed Auckland Island merganser (Mergus australis)

Robin Hammond/Panos Photos

Unfortunately, it’s already too late for certain birds, like the Merganser from Auckland Island (illustrated above). After its disappearance in 1902, it has since been confined to museum exhibits. “I’ve witnessed flocks flying around Wellington without even knowing they existed as a child,” states Hammond. “Though, you can now hear their songs, something that was not the case before.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Ancient ‘Terror Birds’ Likely Not Comparable to Giant, Hungry Caiman

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Artist’s interpretation of the encounter between ancient caiman and terror birds

Julian Bayona Becerra

Approximately 13 million years ago, massive predators clashed in a sprawling South American wetland. Fossils of a giant flightless bird discovered in Colombia bear tooth marks from enormous caimans.

Andrés Link from the University of the Andes in Colombia and his team were examining crocodile fossils in the museum’s collection when they identified an unusual bone. This bone belonged to the Forsulhacid bird, commonly referred to as “terror birds.” These predators possessed hooked beaks and muscular legs equipped with sharp claws. The fossilized remains were from the lower limbs of a bird standing 2.5 meters tall, making it one of the largest terror birds ever found.

However, this predator likely faced a grim fate. Initially unearthed in Colombia’s Tatacoa desert by local paleontologist César Perdomo, the bones exhibited four distinct puncture marks.

Link and his research team sought to identify the predator that dared to bite such a formidable bird. They scanned the fossil’s surface to create a digital model of the tooth marks, finding striking similarities to the teeth of ancient predators in the region. The culprit was almost certainly not a mammal.

“There are no signs of gnawing, and the markings are rounded,” Link explains. “The lines closely resemble those attributed to alligators and caimans.”

Terror birds roamed the earth when northern South America was dominated by the Pebas System, a vast network of wetlands interspersed with tropical forests and grasslands. This flooded habitat supported a diverse range of crocodile species, leading the team to link the dental impression to the giant caiman Purussaurus neivensis, estimated to be around 4.5 meters in length.

“Terror birds were undoubtedly apex predators,” remarks Link. “However, this evidence indicates that when they ventured near large bodies of water, they could also fall prey to massive caimans, either in pursuit of prey or while navigating this complex ecosystem.”

The researchers speculate that the bird may have already been deceased when the caiman encountered it, with the tooth marks indicative of scavenging. There are no signs of bone regeneration surrounding the marks. Either way, the encounter proved fatal for the terror bird.

“These types of [tooth] impressions are more prevalent than one might assume,” states Carolina Acosta Hospitalce from La Plata National University in Argentina.

In a study published last year, she and her colleagues discussed tooth marks found on a smaller, older fossil terror bird—about 43 million years old—suggesting that ancient carnivorous marsupials also preyed upon these birds. These markings were also found on the lower limbs, leading Hospitalce to ponder whether this area of the bird’s anatomy is particularly vulnerable to predators.

“[Bite marks] offer fascinating glimpses into past life,” comments Stephanie Drumheller from the University of Tennessee.

When studying ancient environments, she notes there is a tendency to categorize extinct organisms into strict ecological roles. However, food webs can be quite intricate.

“This is an animal that thrived in aquatic environments, while another lived on land, entirely separate from one another. Yet, nature often defies our neat categorizations,” Drumheller observes.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Earliest Evidence of Ancient Birds Nesting Beyond the Arctic Circle

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Illustration of an ancient bird nesting above the Arctic Circle

Gabriel Ugueto

Recent findings of bone fragments from Alaska indicate that birds have been nesting and breeding in the Arctic for at least 73 million years.

“It’s quite unusual, as raising a newborn in the Arctic is challenging,” explains study author Lauren Wilson from Princeton University.

Currently, around 250 bird species can thrive at the poles. Some migrate great distances to enjoy continuous daylight in summer, while others brave the winter, enduring extreme cold and long periods of darkness. However, knowledge about how these birds first adapted to the highest latitudes remains limited.

Wilson and her team searched for ancient avian traces within the Princreek Formation in northern Alaska, which formed on coastal floodplains about 73 million years ago. At that time, northern Alaska was approximately 1,000-1,600 kilometers closer to the Arctic than it is today.

The researchers retrieved ancient soil samples from several narrow rock layers, encountering temperatures of -30°C (-22°F) in a makeshift tent. “This has definitely been the most demanding fieldwork I’ve undertaken,” Wilson admits.

Back at the lab, they spent hours peering through microscopes at sediments smaller than two millimeters, hunting for tiny fossil bone fragments.

The team uncovered over 50 fossil fragments belonging to ancient birds, primarily from chicks and even embryos. The fossilized bones of these young birds exhibit a sponge-like texture, indicative of rapid bone growth.

Although birds likely began nesting in the Arctic Circle 73 million years ago, these fossils represent the earliest evidence of such behavior, extending the timeline of avian presence back by 30 million years.

However, many fossils are fragmented and do not clarify whether these birds remained year-round or only in the warm summer months.

“The Arctic’s food web, which supports life in extreme cold and darkness, couldn’t exist without the plethora of birds that inhabit high latitudes,” says Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh, who wasn’t involved in the study. “These fossils illustrate that birds have been a vital part of these high-latitude ecosystems for tens of millions of years.”

Wilson’s team identified three major bird groups represented among the fossil fragments: extinct tooth-like birds similar to ducks, extinct tooth-like birds reminiscent of gulls, and various species that may be related to modern birds.

Conversely, the samples did not include bones from older bird groups known as enantiornithines, or “opposite birds.” Gerald Mayle from the Senckenberg Institute in Germany, who also wasn’t part of the study, noted that this finding suggests that more advanced bird ancestors could survive the harsh Arctic conditions due to certain evolutionary advantages that older birds lacked.

The ecosystems that shaped the Princreek Formation existed when non-avian dinosaurs dominated the planet, with evidence that ancient birds coexisted with species like tyrannosaurs and horned ceratopsians in these Arctic environments. Some dinosaurs even nested within the Arctic Circle.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

These Stunning Birds Create Enduring Bonds

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True friends, as most would agree, support one another. This can mean offering emotional encouragement or lending a hand during a move. For a vibrant Sterling—a lively songbird from the African savanna—this includes feeding insects to your friends’ offspring, with the expectation that they will do the same for you in return.

Research has shown that social animals tend to form bonds primarily with their relatives. However, according to a study published in the Journal Nature Wednesday, researchers analyzed two decades of field data, revealing new interactions among unrelated members of great starling communities.

“These findings are the core of our study,” stated Dustin Reubenstein, an ecology professor at Columbia University and the paper’s author.

Alexis Earle, a biologist from Cornell University and co-author, noted that great starlings exhibit unique cooperative breeding behavior, blending family units with newcomers. New parents often depend on as many as 16 helpers.

Dr. Reubenstein’s lab has maintained a 20-year field survey of the species, encompassing 40 breeding seasons. They recorded thousands of interactions among hundreds of vocal birds and collected DNA samples to explore genetic linkages. When Dr. Earle, then a graduate student, began analyzing the data, she and her colleagues were not surprised to find that the birds predominantly assisted their relatives.

However, they were taken aback to discover that starlings also assisted non-relatives, even opting to help others when they could have aided their family members. Newcomers in the flock offered assistance to birds born within it, and vice versa. As great starlings frequently shift between parenting and supportive roles, the research team found that individuals who aided non-relatives tended to reciprocate those good deeds over time.

“Starlings consistently invest in the same valued social partners over their lives,” Dr. Earle remarked. “To me, that resembles friendship.”

Gerald Carter, an animal behavior expert at Princeton University and co-author, noted the controversy surrounding the idea of animals forming friendships with non-related individuals. Yet, increasing research supports the presence of long-term interactions among primates, elephants, crows, and whales. There are even vampire bats that share their blood meals with unrelated members of their colonies, alongside unrelated male lance-tailed manakins who act as each other’s “wingmen” to attract female attention.

Detecting long-term relationships, however, can be challenging, as Dr. Reubenstein points out. The research team required 27 seasons of data to reveal signs of reciprocity among starlings, and he believes they may still be underestimating it.

Dr. Reubenstein suggested that mutual support relationships may be more crucial than lab data indicates. “Having substantial long-term data is essential to uncovering these dynamics.”

The study presents a strong case, according to Jorg Massen, a behavioral ecologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands who was not involved in the research. A key next step is to determine how these long-term relationships are sustained on a daily basis.

“Is it merely based on reproductive support, or does it involve other behavioral factors?” he posed.

Moreover, the behavior of great starlings suggests that everyone benefits from maintaining relationships with unrelated peers. “Birds residing in larger groups tend to have longer lifespans and produce more offspring over their lifetimes,” stated Dr. Reubenstein. In the harsh and unpredictable environments of the African savanna, maximizing resources is vital, and incorporating migrant birds enhances group stability.

According to Dr. Reubenstein, this mirrors the evolutionary trajectory of humans.

Amid growing concerns over the epidemic of human loneliness, experts may find valuable lessons in the lives of starlings. In essence, strong relationships often emerge from a foundation of support.

But you don’t need to feed your friends’ kids bugs! Luckily, there are always babysitting services available.

Source: www.nytimes.com

The ancient ancestors of geese are the earliest recorded modern birds

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Vegavis Iaai was an ancient relative of ducks and geese, but it dived for fish like graves and runes

Mark Whitton

The 69 million-year-old skull found in Antarctica is identified as a relative of geese and ducks, making it the oldest known modern bird.

It belongs to the first identified species named 20 years ago Vegavis Iaai, He lived alongside the last dinosaurs in the late Cretaceous period. However, only fragments of the skull had been discovered previously, so scientists were unable to agree on what kind of bird it was, or whether it was a non-vian dinosaur like a bird instead.

The fossil skull was discovered in 2011 on Vega Island off the coast of Antarctic Peninsula. However, it was enveloped in such a fierce rock that the excavator had to scrape away the surrounding stones for hundreds of hours before scanning to reveal details about its interior.

Patrick O'Connor At Ohio University, which worked on the analysis, it says that two almost perfect skull features occur only in modern birds. First, the upper beak is made up of bones, which are primarily called the anterior axis, and the size of the second bone, the maxilla, is significantly reduced, contributing only to a small portion of the bone-palate.

Second, in modern birds, the forebrain is huge compared to the rest of the brain. Like pre-modern birds and dinosaurs of nearby birds Velociraptorthese areas are proportionally much smaller.

meanwhile Vegavis According to O'Connor, it has the ability to clearly mark it as being in the same group of waterfowls as ducks and geese. The bird's beak shape, jaw muscle tissue and hind legs suggest that they were very specialized in diving into the pursuit of fish.

“Perhaps you can easily mistake it for modern graves and runes. This is only related to ducks and each other,” he says.

Jacqueline Nguyen The Australian Museum in Sydney says that this ancient species has been the subject of many debate among bird evolutionary scientists, but new research will help resolve the debate.

“together, [the evidence] It suggests that Vegavis It looks completely different from the duck and geese parents, and this could have been an “evolutionary experiment” in the early history of this group of birds.” says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Birds Build Nests with Snake Skin to Protect From Predators

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Many species of birds use shed snake skin when building nests, but this behavior is poorly understood. In a new study, Cornell University ornithologists used comparative and experimental approaches to suggest that the evolution of this behavior is mediated by nest morphology and predator community. They used a series of experiments and comparisons to test four hypotheses (nest predation, nest microbiota, nest ectoparasites, and social signaling) that snake skin confers fitness effects, and the predation hypothesis found support for.

Great Crested Flycatcher (Myialchus crinitus) are famous for using snake skin to construct their nests. Image credit: Barbara Taylor/Macaulay Library.

“What do snakes eat? They eat a lot of rats and small mammals,” said Dr. Vanya Lower, lead author of the study.

“Given the evolutionary history of harmful interactions between small-bodied predators that are commonly eaten by snakes, these predators should become fearful of snake skin in their nests.”

“It may change the decision-making process for whether or not to nest.”

“Birdwatchers have been recording the use of snakeskin in nests for centuries, and have speculated that snakeskin occurs more frequently in hollow nests, but no one has tested this theory. There was no one there.”

“We were trying to understand why birds spend so much time and effort finding this strange substance.”

First, Dr. Lower and his colleagues looked at the literature and found that 78 species in 22 families have been reported to use shed snake skin for nest building.

All but one of these species are passerines, and in a comparative analysis, the researchers found that this behavior was disproportionately observed in cavity-nesting species.

Next, they examined a subsample of North American species, all of which are reported to use snake skin for nest construction, and found that between cavity-nesting species and open-cup nesting species, snake skin We investigated whether the proportion of nests with

The analysis suggested that the proportion of nests with snake skin was approximately 6.5 times higher in cavity nests than in open cup nest species.

“The proportion of nests that had snake skin in the nest description was about 6.5 times higher in cavity nests than in open cup nests,” Dr. Lower said.

“This was really, really cool and suggested to us that these two completely independent data series were telling very similar stories.”

To test the benefits that cavity-nesting birds derive from snake skin, scientists investigated how snake skin reduces nest predation, reduces harmful nest ectoparasites, and benefits birds. We investigated whether they can alter the microbial community or serve as a signal of parental quality. Parents make more efforts to raise their children.

Of these ideas, the results supported the nest predation hypothesis, but only in cavity nests.

For the experiment, the authors placed two quail eggs in more than 60 nest boxes and more than 80 inactive robin nests set up around Ithaca’s Monkey Run Natural Area. Cavity nests and open cup nests were simulated.

Some nests received snake skins collected from local snake breeders, while others did not.

Every three days for two weeks, the team used a ladder to climb through the monkey run to the nest and check for eggs.

Trail cameras revealed that while small mammal and bird nest predators visit open cup nests, only small mammals, namely flying squirrels, visit nest boxes.

“If you were in a hive like that and you had snake skin, you would have a much better chance of surviving those 14 days,” Dr. Lower said.

“The benefits of the material are most strongly expressed in hollow nests.”

team’s result appear in american naturalist.

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Vanya G. Lower others. Evolution of the use of snake skin in bird nests. american naturalistpublished online on December 17, 2024. doi: 10.1086/733208

This article is a version of a press release provided by Cornell University.

Source: www.sci.news

The incredible abilities of pigeons: Why it’s time to appreciate and embrace these amazing birds

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“Hello again!” Pigeons remember individual human faces

Martin Parr/Magnum Photo

Recently, when I was walking in the park with some friends, they pointed out the pigeons and told me I was looking at their favorite bird. I couldn’t believe it. Pigeon? That winged pest? My friend responded with this perverse logic. It makes a lot of sense that pigeons are our favorite birds because they’re always fun.

I was momentarily confused and wondered if anyone could really be so obsessed with pigeons. As it turns out, the joke was on me. I talked to other friends and co-workers, and a surprising number of them loved the humble Pidge. one new scientist An anonymous colleague confessed to having a secret dove tattoo. I also saw a news report that A couple with their adopted pigeon sleeping on their bed.

After doing a little reading, I found that pigeons have a lot to recommend. In addition to their well-known homing abilities, they are intelligent to say the least. Although they are not mammals, they do produce a type of milk. They kiss each other and praise themselves after sex, recognize individual people (And you can remember the person who was mean to you). All this put together made me think that I might be able to love this seemingly ordinary bird after all. So, armed with curiosity and a bag of oatmeal, I set out to do just that.

A little bird watching

I wanted to conduct my research with at least a sense of scientific integrity, so I came up with the idea of ​​an “experiment.” First of all, I…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Enantiornis fossil from 80 million years ago connects Archeopteryx to modern birds

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Paleontologists have unearthed the exquisitely preserved remains of a Cretaceous enantiornithine bird in São Paulo state in southeastern Brazil. The skull’s extraordinary three-dimensional preservation allowed researchers to digitally reconstruct the bird’s brain.

Artist’s impression Nabaornis Hestia. Image credit: Júlia D’Oliveira.

The newly identified Enantiornithine species They lived in what is now Brazil about 80 million years ago (late Cretaceous period).

with scientific name Nabaornis Hestiathe ancient bird was about the same size as a starling.

This species had a larger cerebrum Archeopteryxsuggesting that they had more advanced cognitive abilities than early bird-like dinosaurs.

However, most regions of the brain, such as the cerebellum, are underdeveloped, suggesting that the complex flight control mechanisms of modern birds have not yet evolved.

“The structure of the brain is Nabaornis Hestia almost exactly in between Archeopteryx Dr Guillermo Navarone, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, says:

Fossilized remains are Nabaornis Hestia It was recovered in 2016 from the local Williams Quarry in Presidente Prudente, part of Brazil’s Adamantina Formation.

Tens of millions of years ago, the site was probably an arid region with slow-flowing streams, allowing for the impressive preservation of fossils.

The extraordinary three-dimensional preservation has allowed paleontologists to use advanced micro-CT scanning techniques to reconstruct the toothless, large-eyed bird’s skull and brain in stunning detail.

fossilized skeleton Nabaornis Hestia. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowitz.

“This fossil is truly one of a kind and I was in awe from the moment I first saw it to the moment I finished assembling the skull and brain. “You can fully understand the scientific structure,” Dr. Navarone said.

Professor Daniel Field from the University of Cambridge added: “Modern birds have some of the most sophisticated cognitive abilities in the animal kingdom, rivaled only by mammals.”

“However, scientists have struggled to understand when and how birds’ unique brains and remarkable intelligence evolved. The field is looking forward to discovering fossils just like this one. I’ve been waiting for it.”

On the other hand, the skull Nabaornis Hestia At first glance, it resembles a small pigeon, but upon closer inspection, it turns out that it is not a modern bird at all, but a member of the “opposite birds”, or “opposite birds”.

Birds of the order Enantiornithiformes, which diverged from modern birds more than 130 million years ago, have complex feathers and are thought to have been able to fly as competently as modern birds. .

However, the anatomical structure of the brain Nabaornis Hestia This raises new questions: How does enantiornithine behave without a range of brain features observed in living birds, including an enlarged cerebellum, which is a spatial control center in living birds? Did they control the flight?

“This fossil represents a species at an intermediate point in the evolutionary process of bird cognition,” Professor Field said.

“The cognitive ability is Nabaornis Hestia They may have had an advantage in finding food and shelter, and were capable of elaborate mating displays and other complex social behaviors. ”

“This discovery shows that some of the birds that flew above the dinosaurs already had fully modern skull shapes more than 80 million years ago,” Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County said. said researcher Dr. Luis Chiappe.

This finding is reported in the following article: paper in a diary nature.

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LM Chiappe others. 2024. Cretaceous birds from Brazil tell the story of the evolution of bird skulls and brains. nature 635, 376-381; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08114-4

Source: www.sci.news

Using Earth’s Magnetic Field as a GPS, Migratory Birds Navigate Their Way

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Giant reed warbler migrating between Europe and Africa

AGAMI Photo Agency / Alamy Stock

Many migratory birds use the Earth's magnetic field as a compass, and others can use information from that field to more or less determine where they are on their mental map.

Greater Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus skillupaceus) appears to calculate geographic location by drawing data from various distances and angles between the magnetic field and the shape of the Earth. The study suggests that birds use magnetic information as a kind of “GPS,” telling them not only where to go, but also their initial whereabouts, they said. richard holland At Bangor University, UK.

“When we travel, we have a map that shows us where we are and a compass that shows us which direction to go to reach our destination,” he says. “We don't expect birds to have this much precision or knowledge about the entire planet. Yet, when they travel along their normal path, or even when they travel far from that path, they , and observe how the magnetic cues change.”

Scientists have known for decades that migratory birds rely on cues from the ocean. solar, star and earth's magnetic field To decide which direction to go. But using a compass to figure out direction and knowing where a bird is in the world are markedly different, and scientists are wondering if and how birds figure out their current map location. I'm still debating whether to do it or not.

Florian Packmore Germany's Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration suspected that birds could detect detailed aspects of magnetic fields to determine their global location. Specifically, magnetic obliquity (the change in the angle of the Earth's surface relative to magnetic field lines) and magnetic declination (the difference in orientation between the geographic and magnetic poles) are used to better understand where you are in the world. He thought he might be able to do it.

To test their theory, Packmore, Holland and colleagues captured 21 adult reed warblers in Illmitz, Austria, on their migration route from Europe to Africa. So the researchers temporarily placed the birds in an outdoor aviary, where they used a Helmholtz coil to disrupt the magnetic field. They artificially altered the inclination and declination in a way that corresponded to the location of Neftekamsk, Russia, 2,600 kilometers away. “That's way off course for them,” Packmore says.

The researchers then placed the birds in special cages to study their migratory instincts and asked two independent researchers, who were unaware of changes in the magnetic field, to record which direction the birds headed. In the changed magnetic field conditions, most birds showed a clear tendency to fly west-southwest, as if trying to return to their migratory route from Russia. In contrast, when the magnetic field was unchanged, the same birds attempted to fly south-southeast from Austria.

This suggests that the birds believed they were no longer in Austria, but Russia, based solely on magnetic inclination and declination, Packmore said.

“Of course they don't know it's Russia, but it's too far north and east from where they should be,” Holland says. “And at that point, they look at their compass system and figure out how to fly south and west.”

However, the neurological mechanisms that allow birds to sense these aspects of the Earth's magnetic field are still not fully understood.

“This is an important step in understanding how the magnetic maps of songbirds, especially the great reed warbler, work,” he says. Nikita Chernetsov The professor at the Institute of Zoology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg was not involved in the study.

The study confirms that the great reed warbler relies on these magnetic fields for positioning, but that doesn't mean all birds do, he added. “Not all birds work the same.”

Packmore and Holland said the birds were released two to three weeks after the study, at which point they were able to continue their normal migration. In fact, one of the birds they studied was captured a second time a year later. This means that the researchers' work did not interfere with the birds' successful migration.

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Abyssaurid birds from the Cretaceous era might have hunted similar to present-day hawks and owls

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Paleontologists have explained three new things Enantiornithine Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation birds, two of which are new species abysauridae seed. These birds lived alongside dinosaurs 68 million years ago, and their powerful leg bones suggest they may have captured and carried off prey.

Restoration of abyssaurids (e.g. Avisaurus Darwini). Image credit: Clark others., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310686.

The most diverse bird species of the Cretaceous period was a now extinct group called the enantiornithines, which were known throughout the world during this period.

However, enantiornithines and other Mesozoic birds are known primarily from Early Cretaceous deposits, with records from the Late Cretaceous being relatively sparse.

Therefore, there is a general lack of understanding of the evolutionary trends of birds towards the end of the Mesozoic Era.

The fossilized remains of three new enantiornithine birds have been discovered in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana and date to the late Cretaceous period.

Two species were named new species. Magnusabis ekarakaensis and Avisaurus Darwiniwhile the third is an unnamed species. Avisaurus.

All of these birds were larger than the Early Cretaceous enantiornithines; Avisaurus Darwini It is estimated to weigh more than 1 kg, making it about the size of a large hawk.

“These discoveries virtually double the number of bird species known from the Hell Creek Formation and are important for a better understanding of why only some birds survived the mass extinction event. It will be.” tyrannosaurus and the abysaurid described here,” said Dr. Jingmai O'Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum.

When the team analyzed the leg bones, they found Avisaurus Hawks and owls and their relatives exhibit hawk- and owl-like proportions and adaptations, and, like some modern raptors, have powerful legs that can grasp and carry proportionately large prey. Shows muscles and legs.

“Based on clues in the leg bones, we think these birds were able to capture and transport prey, similar to modern hawks and owls,” said Dr. Alex Clark. students at the Field Museum and the University of Chicago.

“They may not have been the first raptors to evolve, but their fossils are the oldest known examples of predatory birds.”

This new species expands the known diversity of Late Cretaceous birds, confirms trends toward larger body sizes, and sheds light on how enantiornithines evolved a diversity of ecological roles over time. It's highlighted.

“Abyssaurids, the latest Cretaceous enantiornithid birds, display hindlimb features with strong ankle flexion, which contributes to the ability to carry heavy prey and similar behavior to modern raptors. “This suggests that,” the paleontologists said.

their paper Published in today's diary PLoS ONE.

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AD Clark others. 2024. New enantiornithine diversity of the Hell Creek Formation and functional morphology of avian tarsometatarsals. PLoS ONE 19 (10): e0310686;doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310686

Source: www.sci.news

Toothed birds in the Cretaceous era primarily consumed gymnosperm fruits, not fish.

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Paleontologists found fossilized seeds of gymnosperms, relatives of today’s conifers and ginkgo trees, in the stomachs of two of the specimens. Longipteryx caoyangensis One of the oldest known birds, and also one of the strangest. This discovery shows that these birds ate fruit, despite the long-held assumption that they were fish eaters, and the more recent hypothesis that they ate insects with their incredibly strong teeth.

Skull Longipteryx caoyangensis Image courtesy of Xiaoli Wang.

Longipteryx caoyangensis It lived in what is now northeastern China during the Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago.

First described in 2000, this ancient bird had a long skull and teeth only at the tip of its beak.

“Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the body. Longipteryx” Human tooth enamel is 50 microns thick,” says Alex Clark, a doctoral student at the Field Museum and the University of Chicago.

“That’s the same thickness as the enamel of a large carnivorous dinosaur. Allosaurus It weighed 4,000 pounds. Longipteryx It was about the size of a blue jay.”

Scientists have previously found that the elongated skull of a kingfisher Longipteryx caoyangensis This means they hunted fish, but this hypothesis has been called into question by a number of studies.

“There are other fossil birds. Janornis “We know they ate fish because specimens have been found with preserved stomach contents, and fish tend to preserve well,” said Dr. Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum.

“In addition, these fish-eating birds had many teeth throughout their beaks. Longipteryx “It only has teeth at the tip of its beak. That doesn’t make sense.”

but, Longipteryx caoyangensis In some cases, animals have been found with fossilized food still in their stomachs, allowing scientists to determine what they had been eating.

In the new study, paleontologists examined two new specimens of this species.

They found that the small round structures in the bird’s stomach Gymnosperms seed.

Since Longipteryx caoyangensis Since they lived in a temperate climate, it is unlikely that they ate fruit all year round.

The authors speculate that when fruit was unavailable, they may have had a mixed diet that included insects.

Longipteryx caoyangensis Part of a larger group of prehistoric birds called enantiornithines, the discovery marks the first time that scientists have found the stomach contents of an enantiornithine in China’s Jehol Biota, despite the discovery of thousands of fossils.

“It’s always puzzling not to know what they were eating, but this study points to a larger problem in palaeontology, which is that the physical characteristics of fossils don’t always tell the whole story about what animals were eating or how they lived,” Dr O’Connor said.

Since Longipteryx caoyangensis It apparently did not hunt fish, which raises the question of what it used its long, pointed beak and unusually strong teeth for.

“The thick enamel seems to be overpowering and weaponized,” Clark said.

“One of the most common skeletal parts that birds use in aggressive displays is the proboscis, or beak.”

“Using the beak as a weapon makes sense because it keeps the weapon away from the rest of the body and helps prevent injury.”

“Modern birds don’t have teeth, but there are some really cool little hummingbirds that have keratinous projections near the tip of their snouts. Longipteryx And they are using it as a weapon to fight each other,” Dr O’Connor added.

“Hummingbird beaks have evolved at least seven times, allowing them to compete for limited resources.”

of Survey results Published in the journal today Current Biology.

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Jinmai O’Connor others Direct evidence for frugivory in Mesozoic birds Longipteryx This is inconsistent with morphological indicators of diet. Current Biology Published online September 10, 2024; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.012

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The former Moa refuge now shelters New Zealand’s surviving flightless birds.

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Human settlement of the Pacific islands triggered a wave of faunal extinctions that occurred so rapidly that their dynamics are difficult to reconstruct in space and time. These extinctions included a large wingless bird called the moa, endemic to New Zealand. In a new study, New Zealand scientists say University of Adelaide and others have reconstructed the distribution and extinction dynamics of six moa species across New Zealand. They find that the final populations of all moa species generally occur in the cold, mountainous areas that are the last remaining and least affected by humans. They also find that the final moa population refugia continue to function as isolated sanctuaries for New Zealand's flightless birds.

This is an artist's impression of the Upland Mower. Megarapteryx didinusby George Edward Lodge, 1907.

“Our study overcame previous logistical challenges, allowing us to track the population dynamics of six moa species at a resolution previously thought impossible,” said Dr Damian Fordham, from the University of Adelaide.

“We achieved this by combining advanced computational modelling with the vast fossil record, palaeoclimatic information and innovative reconstructions of human settlement and expansion across New Zealand.”

“Our study shows that despite significant differences in the ecology, demographics and timing of extinction of moa species, their distributions collapsed and converged to the same regions in the North and South Islands of New Zealand.”

Dr Fordham and his colleagues found that the last populations of any moa species lived in the same isolated, cold mountain regions that currently house many of the last populations of New Zealand's most endangered flightless birds, including Mount Aspiring in the South Island and the Ruahine Ranges in the North Island.

Hearst's Eagle (Hieraethus Moulay) attacking two moas. Image by John Megahan/PLoS Biology, doi:10.1371/journalplo.0030020.

“Moa populations were likely first to disappear from the highest quality lowland habitats favoured by Polynesian settlers, and the rate of population decline decreased with increasing elevation and distance moved inland,” said Dr Sean Tomlinson, also from the University of Adelaide.

“By identifying the last remaining populations of moa and comparing them with the distribution of flightless birds in New Zealand, we found that these last refuges also protect many of the surviving populations of takahe, weka and great spotted kiwi today.”

“Furthermore, these ancient refugia for the moa overlap with the last mainland populations of the critically endangered kakapo.”

“Although the drivers of the recent declines of New Zealand's endemic flightless birds are different to those that caused the ancient moa extinction, this study shows that their spatial dynamics are similar.”

Moas fed on trees and shrubs in the forest understory. Image by Heinrich Harder.

“The main commonality between past and present refuges is not that they are the best habitats for flightless birds, but that they remain the last refuges, the least affected by humans,” said Dr Jamie Wood, also from the University of Adelaide.

“As with previous waves of Polynesian expansion, European habitat conversion across New Zealand, and the spread of the animals they introduced, was directional, moving from the lowlands towards the colder, less hospitable mountain regions.”

Team result Published in a journal Natural Ecology and Evolution.

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S. Tomlinson othersThe ecological dynamics of the moa extinction revealed a convergent refugium where flightless birds live today. Nat Ecol EvolPublished online July 24, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02449-x

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Experimenting with Neanderthal cooking methods using birds and stone tools

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SEI 213827736

A researcher plucks the feathers of a bird as part of an experiment to investigate Neanderthal cooking techniques.

Mariana Navaiz

To learn more about Neanderthal culinary talents, archaeologists cooked five wild birds using only fire, their hands, and stone tools. The experiment shows that our ancient relatives needed significant manual skill to use a flint blade to butcher an animal without injuring themselves.

Neanderthals lived in Europe and Asia until about 40,000 years ago. Hearths have been found at many of their sites, and there is evidence that they hunted large animals such as elephants and cave lions.

Mariana Navaiz Researchers at the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution in Tarragona, Spain, say that by recreating ancient activities such as cooking and butchering using tools available at the time, scientists can gain insight into how prehistoric humans lived.

She and her colleagues wanted to better understand archaeological bird remains associated with Neanderthals that date back about 90,000 years ago and were found in deposits in Portugal.

The team selected five birds that had died at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Portugal and were similar in size and species to those found at the archaeological site.Crow), Turtledove(Columba Palumbus) and two European collared doves (Streptopelia decaoctoThe tools used in the experiment were pieces of flint prepared by students of stone tool technology.

All five birds were plucked by hand. The crow and pigeon were butchered raw, while the remaining three were roasted over charcoal. The cooked birds were easily butchered without stone tools, but the raw birds required considerable effort using a flint blade.

“Paleolithic knives were certainly very sharp and required careful handling,” Navais says. “The precision and effort required to use these tools without injuring oneself highlights the practical challenges Neanderthals would have faced in their everyday food processing activities.”

Once the dissection was complete, the researchers prepared the bones and analyzed them for distinctive marks caused by stone tools and fire, as well as identifying wear marks from flint tools.

The burn marks and tool marks were then compared to Neanderthal food remains found at the archaeological sites of Fighiera Brava and Oliveira in Portugal, where bird bones with burn marks and cut marks matched the team’s reconstruction, Navaís said.

“Our experimental studies demonstrate that flaked raw birds display characteristic cut marks, especially around tendons and joints, while roasted birds display burn marks and increased brittleness leading to fractures,” she says. “These findings help distinguish between human-induced modifications and those caused by natural processes or other animals, such as trampling or the activity of rodents, raptors and carnivores.”

Neanderthals were skilled enough to capture and prepare small, fast-moving animals like birds, Navais said. “This study highlights the cognitive capabilities of Neanderthals and demonstrates their ability to capture and prepare small, fast-moving prey like birds, challenging previous ideas that they were incapable of such complex tasks.”

Sam Lin Researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia say experimental archaeology is like reverse engineering, comparing what happens in modern samples with archaeological material to try to interpret what happened in the past.

In this case, one of the main findings is that cooked birds don’t require tools to prepare them for eating, which means some bones may not necessarily bear tool marks. “They learned that you just need to tear apart a cooked wild bird, just like we do when we eat barbecued chicken,” Lin said.

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Researchers are releasing faux birds into simulated aircraft for study

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Mid-air collision

To find out whether air taxi passengers need to worry about collisions with birds, a number of tests were carried out by a German emergency program.

Colliding a real air taxi with a real bird would be complicated and dangerous, so perfection was impossible, so experimenters made do by dropping artificial “bird bullets” onto a rigged metal plate that allowed them to measure the force of the impact.

Aditya Devta and Isabelle Metz of the German Aerospace Center and Sophie Armani of the Technical University of Munich described these violent encounters as follows: Preprint paper(Thanks to reader Mason Porter for pointing this out.)

This study was, necessarily, a rough step toward definitively answering the big questions.

The report said the bird shots were dropped manually and faced various challenges, including “inconsistency and lack of repeatability” due to human involvement. Future efforts should “eliminate human involvement and [so as to] “Improve the accuracy and repeatability of force measurements.”

Collision in the middle of the track

Speaking of experiments involving birds and flying taxis, have you heard of the moose and bullet train experiment? Yong Peng and his colleagues from Central South University in China began investigating what happens when these heavy animals meet at high speed.Analysis of moose movement trajectory after collision between bullet train and moose” “.

The questions go beyond the initial simple collision: the scientists mention two possible complications: “If the moose lies on the tracks after the collision, it could increase the risk of train derailment” and “if the moose is thrown into the air during the collision, it could strike and damage the pantograph, disrupting train operation.”

Previous investigations have relied on mathematical simulations using finite element methods and less-heavy experiments, using fresh beef muscle tissue (from cows, not elk) and a type of stress-strain testing machine called a “split-Hopkinson pressure bar.”

Essentially, the force of the impact “depends on the area of contact between the train and the moose,” the scientists report.

Regarding these complexities, the report states: “The moose will not be pushed aside by the V-shaped locomotive and derail, and the moose will not be thrown into the air to the height of the pantograph, causing no damage to the Shinkansen pantograph.”

The study suggests something bigger is on the way: “Only a scenario of a train crossing the tracks at 110km/h hitting a moose was simulated, which cannot fully reflect the risk of a train-moose collision. Therefore, further speeds and attitudes are needed to enhance ongoing research.”

Feeling cheeky

Slowly and gently, new findings about sources are coming in from readers. These concern the off-label use of ketchup and other sticky foods to make electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes work better (Feedback, May 25).

Brian Leffin Smith adds a musical note: “You don’t need human skin to test whether ketchup electrodes are better than regular gel electrodes. I have equipment that applies a low voltage to plant leaves (or anything else) and converts the varying current into a MIDI signal that can be sent to a computer or synthesizer to play sounds… Anyway, in a statistically insignificant but anecdotally and culinarily interesting test, I found that low-salt ketchup placed between an ECG electrode and a chili leaf produced a fairly high E, while the proper gel placed on the adjacent leaf produced a G. I thought this might be useful, but now I don’t think so.”

Dave Hardy makes a point about practicality: “In the early 1970s, my GP said that gel was ridiculously expensive, but that strawberry jam would work just as well. I don’t know if he tried a range of options or just used what he had on hand (this was in the Falkland Islands).”

Death of a Star

It is surprising how few people are hailed as “famous pathologists.” news The paper reported on the death of one of them: “Dr. Cyril Wecht, the prominent pathologist who argued that more than one shooter killed JFK, has died at age 93.”

One of the first celebrated pathologists, Bernard Spilsbury (1877-1947), helped establish London’s reputation as a hotbed of fascinating and intricate murder mystery investigations.

Royal College of Physicians RevealedAfter his death, he said that Spilsbury’s career had been a truly dramatic one: “The famous Crippen trial in which he was involved [William] Wilcox’s attempts to prove that the murders were committed with hyoscine hydrobromide first attracted him to public attention, and he lamented it at every trial he subsequently attended, which no doubt accounted for his stern and cold demeanor towards all but his closest friends.

Spilsbury’s attitude was by no means contemptible. One aspect of the job of dissecting a corpse is the terrible stench of rotting bodies, which can put off sensitive people. Spilsbury was not a sensitive person in this respect. His colleagues were amazed at how enthusiastic he was about dissecting a corpse. Obituary To put it politely, it was an “olfactory disorder.”

Marc Abrahams is the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founder of the journal Annals of Improbable Research. He previously worked on unusual uses of computers. His website is Impossible

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Using sleeping birds’ vocal muscle activity to create artificial songs

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During sleep, we can sporadically find patterns of neural activity in areas of the bird's brain that are activated during song production. Recently, it was found that patterns of activity during these silent plays can be detected in the vocal muscles of sleeping birds. In a new study, researchers from the University of Buenos Aires and CONICET employed a dynamic systems model for song production in suborder birds. Tyrani This is to convert the vocal muscle activity during sleep into a synthetic song.

Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulfuratus) July 2011, Beeville, Texas, USA. Image credit: Tess Thornton / CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed.

“Dreams are one of the most intimate and elusive parts of our existence,” said Dr. Gabriel Mindlin, senior author of the study.

“It's very moving to know that we share something with species so far away. And the possibility of entering the mind of a dreaming bird – of hearing the sounds of its dreams. is a temptation that cannot be resisted.”

A few years ago, Dr. Mindlin and his colleagues discovered that these patterns of neuronal activity were transmitted to the syringe muscle, the bird's vocal organ.

They are able to capture sleeping birds' muscle activity data via recording electrodes called electromyograms and convert it into a synthetic song using a dynamical systems model.

“For the past 20 years, I have been studying the physics of bird calls and how muscular information is translated into calls,” Dr. Mindlin said.

“In this way, we can use the muscle activity patterns as time-dependent parameters in a bird song production model and synthesize the corresponding song.”

Trill electromyographic activity recorded during sleep and synthetic sounds generated by a dynamic model.Image credit: Doppler other., doi: 10.1063/5.0194301.

Many birds have complex muscle structures, so translating syringe activity into calls is a bit difficult.

“For this first piece, we chose Wonderful Kiskadi (Pitangus sulfuratus)“It's a member of the flycatcher family, a species for which we recently discovered the physical mechanism of its song and showed some simplifications,” Dr. Mindlin said.

“In other words, we selected species for which the first steps of this program were viable.”

The authors heard the sound emerge from the data of birds dreaming of territorial battles by raising the tops of their wings, a gesture reminiscent of calls used during daytime conflicts. I was incredibly moved.

“Imagining that lonely bird reenacting its territorial battles in my dreams really resonated with me. We have more in common with other species than we often realize.” said Dr. Mindlin.

This study presents biophysics as a new exploratory tool that can open the door to the quantitative study of dreams.

“We are interested in interacting with dreaming birds using these syntheses that can be implemented in real time,” Dr. Mindlin said.

“And for species that learn, to address questions about the role of sleep during learning.”

of study It was published in the magazine chaos.

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Juan F. Doppler other. 2024. Bird dream synthesis was featured. chaos 34 (4): 043103; doi: 10.1063/5.0194301

Source: www.sci.news

The Remarkable Decline of Predatory Birds in Africa Puts them at Risk of Extinction

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Bateleur decreased by 87% in 3 generations

Andre Botha

Dozens of African raptor species are in sharp decline, and many are now considered at risk of extinction, according to an analysis of data from across Africa.

Populations of nearly all 42 species studied have declined due to the spread of agriculture, pesticide use, poisoning by poachers, and infrastructure such as power lines that are deadly to the birds.

These include the secretary bird (sagittarius the serpent), decreased by 85 percent over three generations. Marshall Eagles (Polemaetus bellicosus), reduced by 90% on the same basis.Teratopius Exaudatus), decreased by 87 percent.

Secretary birds decline by 85% in 3 generations

Darcy Ogada

A study has found that some birds that were previously thought not to be in danger of extinction are now on the verge of extinction. For example, the African goshawk (Aquila Spirogaster) is now listed as 'least concern' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is estimated to have declined by 91 percent.

Some have called for the list of such species to be moved higher in the conservation rankings to reflect this change. “We definitely expect this paper to put pressure on the rest of the papers to pull it up.” [of the surveyed species now facing threats]sooner or later,” say the study authors. Darcy Ogada from the Peregrine Fund, a US-based organization.

Data was collected from more than 53,000 sightings of 42 species on approximately 100,000 kilometers of surveyed roads in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Cameroon, Botswana and Kenya between 1969 and 2020.

Additional data came from the latest South African Bird Atlas project, a citizen science-led survey.

The researchers found that population declines for 42 species were more than twice as severe in unprotected areas than in protected areas, and that well-managed national parks and reserves have long-term implications for bird species. shown to be important to aid survival.

Further research is needed to understand the fate of these birds. “There is an urgent need to increase research that estimates raptor population trends based on loss of habitat for endangered species, such as forests, wetlands, and grasslands, or modeling loss and mismanagement of protected areas.” Mr. Ogata says.

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Study finds honeyguide birds have the ability to recognize distinct audio signals to assist humans in locating beehives

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Greater Honey Guide (indicator indicator)It is a type of African bird. well known To attract other species to the hive. They have even been known to collaborate with ratels, but their closest and most successful collaborators are humans. Several indigenous groups in Africa work with these birds throughout their range. Observing these interactions in Tanzania and Mozambique, scientists showed that honey guides were more responsive to the specific calls of their local honey-hunting partners compared to the calls of honey hunters in other regions. Ta. Honey guides therefore appear to learn the calls of their local partners, and honey hunters maintain these successful calls for generations.

Spottiswood and Wood experimentally showed that honeyguides in Tanzania and Mozambique distinguish between the calls of honeyhunters and are more likely to respond to local calls than to foreign calls. Image credit: Brian Wood.

The animal kingdom is full of interactions between species, but systems in which humans can successfully cooperate with wild animals are rare.

One such relationship involves the greater honeyguide, a small African bird known for guiding humans to wild bee hives.

Humans open the hive to collect honey, and bees eat the exposed beeswax.

Human honey hunters in different parts of Africa may use specialized and culturally distinct calls to signal their search for a honey guide partner and to maintain cooperation while following guided birds. It happens often.

For example, the honey hunters of the Yao culture group in northern Mozambique use a loud trill followed by a grunt (“brrr-hm”).

In contrast, the Honey Hunters of the Hadza cultural group of northern Tanzania use melodic flutes.

These successful calls have been maintained in these groups for generations.

In a series of field experiments across these disciplines, Dr. Claire Spottiswood of the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town, and Dr. Brian Wood of the University of California, Los Angeles and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, found that the ecology of honeyguides is We investigated whether it is good or not. They tend to respond more to the signals of their local human culture than to signals from another culture or any human sounds.

The authors found that honeyguides in the Yao region were more than three times more likely to initiate an induced response to honeyguides. Yao’s unique cry than Hadza’s whistle.

Conversely, honey guides in the Hadza region were more than three times more likely to respond to Hadza whistles than to Yao bloom sounds.

“It’s such a privilege to witness the collaboration between people and honeyguides, especially the birds that come looking for us,” Dr Spottiswoode said.

“Their calls sound exactly like a conversation between a bird and a bee as they travel together towards the beehive.”

According to the authors, the geographic variation and coordination between signals and responses observed in this behavioral system suggests that cultural coevolution has occurred between honeyguides and humans.

“What’s remarkable about the relationship between honey guides and humans is that interactions with humans involve free-living wild animals that have probably evolved through hundreds of thousands of years of natural selection,” Dr. Spottiswood said.

“Through learning, this ancient and evolved behavior was refined to fit local cultural traditions, or different human calls.”

“Our research demonstrates the ability of this bird to learn unique vocal signals traditionally used by various honey-hunting communities, opening up possibilities for mutually beneficial cooperation with people.” ,” Dr. Wood said.

Regarding this research, paper in a diary science.

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Claire N. Spottiswood and Brian M. Wood. 2023. Culturally determined interspecies communication between humans and honey guides. science 382 (6675): 1155-1158; doi: 10.1126/science.adh4129

Source: www.sci.news