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Scared of a younger rival? Not for some male songbirds

When mature male white-crowned sparrows duel to win a mate or a nesting territory, a young bird just doesn't get much respect.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Elaborate plumage due to testosterone?

(PhysOrg.com) -- In many bird species males have a more elaborate plumage than females. This elaborate plumage is often used to signal body condition, to intimidate rivals or to attract potential mates. In ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 21, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

West Nile virus transmission linked to land use patterns and 'super-spreaders'

After its initial appearance in New York in 1999, West Nile virus spread across the United States in just a few years and is now well established throughout North and South America. Both the mosquitoes that ...

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Oct 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bird song-sharing like verbal sparring

While singing the same songs as your neighbours may sound harmonious, research conducted at Queen's University Biological Station (QUBS) suggests that song-sharing amongst song sparrow populations is actually ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

It's no sweat for salt marsh sparrows to beat the heat if they have a larger bill

Birds use their bills largely to forage and eat, and these behaviors strongly influence the shape and size of a bird's bill. But the bill can play an important role in regulating the bird's body temperature ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 20, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study finds that memory works differently in the age of Google

The rise of Internet search engines like Google has changed the way our brain remembers information, according to research by Columbia University psychologist Betsy Sparrow published July 14 in Science.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jul 14, 2011 | popularity 2 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Brainy lizards pass test for birds

Tropical lizards may be slow. But they aren't dumb. They can do problem-solving tasks just as well as birds and mammals, a new study shows.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Birdsong independent of brain size

(PhysOrg.com) -- The brains of all vertebrates display gender-related differences. In songbirds, for example, the size of the brain areas that control their singing behaviour could be linked to the size of ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 13, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Parents' social problems affect their children -- even in birds

A recent study performed by Floriane Guibert and Cecilia Houdelier at the CNRS-University of Rennes in France, together with researchers at the INRA in Nouzilly, France and with Austrian scientists including Erich Mostl of ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 27, 2010 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Ugly Betty forced to aim for Average Joe

Less-pretty female house sparrows tend to lower their aim when selecting a mate. Addressing the lack of studies on condition-dependency of female mate choice, researchers writing in the open access journal ...

Biology / Evolution

created Aug 26, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Migrating birds can't control themselves

During the Spring and Fall migratory seasons, sparrows become significantly less capable of resisting temptation. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience investigated impulse control and sleep in Whi ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 28, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Status symbols of house sparrows: High testosterone darkens their bill

(PhysOrg.com) -- The size of the black breast bib - the badge - and bill colour of male House Sparrows change over the course of the year. Such ornaments usually signal quality and dominance of a male to his ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 04, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Birds of a feather don't always respond together to infection

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Princeton University-led research team is the first to have documented that different populations of the same animal species respond differently with fever when fighting infection in the ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 14, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Only some like it hot: How birds from different populations react to infections

With the help of new radiotelemetry technology, researchers from the University of Princeton and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell have now succeeded, for the first time, in studying fever ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 31, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers Identify the Most Promiscuous Birds in the World

(PhysOrg.com) -- UConn ornithologist Chris Elphick and his colleagues carried out DNA tests to discover the paternity of Saltmarsh Sparrow nestlings.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1