Bird singing contests: A clash of culture and conservation

For thousands  of years, people have been keeping wild birds. It is often a deeply ingrained part of the culture. One of the more recent trends to emerge from this practice is the singing contest which pits male birds against ...

Is odor the secret to bats' sex appeal?

When falling in love, humans often pay attention to looks. Many non-human animals also choose a sexual partner based on appearance. Male birds may sport flashy feathers to attract females, lionesses prefer lions with thicker ...

Big-hearted corvids

Ravens, crows, magpies and their relatives are known for their exceptional intelligence, which allows them to solve complex problems, use tools or outsmart their conspecifics. One capability, however, that we humans value ...

Bird genes are multitaskers, say scientists

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have found that although male and female birds have an almost identical set of genes, they function differently in each sex through a mechanism called alternative splicing.

Singing sexy back: How sparrows adapted to COVID-19 shutdown

As the streets of San Francisco emptied out in the first months of the pandemic, the city's male birds began singing more softly and improving their vocal range, making them "sexier" to females, according to a new study published ...

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