Posts
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| Trumpeter Swans / Photo by Mike Nordell (USFWS) |
- Grist has an article on research at Chicago's Field Museum based on dead birds collected from around Chicago's skyscrapers. Chicago has one of the deadliest skylines in North America, and while a lights-out campaign has improved the situation, thousands of birds still die each year from hitting the city's buildings during migration. The lab logs the casualties and takes feathers and tissue samples for further analysis.
- Scientists working in China found a 125-million-year-old fossil bird that showed evidence of ovulation, in the form of a visible medullary bone, which female birds use to make eggshells. Aside from being interesting in its own right, the finding add evidence that the species in question had sexually dimorphic plumage.
- Since the collapse of the White-rumped Vulture's population in India, there has been a corresponding rise in the numbers of rabid wild dogs, which feed on the carrion that the vultures used to eat. More humans are getting rabies as a result.
- Some of you may have seen the hoax video of an eagle picking up and dropping a baby last month. Since that time there has been a rise in eagle shootings, including four shot at one lake in Washington, and some wildlife rehabilitators are wondering if the video is to blame.
- Paleontologists have found another feathered dinosaur from the Jurassic Period. This one, called Eosinopteryx, was probably flightless.
- A recent study mounted video cameras and accelerometers on Adelie Penguins to learn more about their feeding behaviors. The videos show that the penguins use different strategies for capturing krill and fish, and they move their heads relative to their bodies while making a catch. A short video is available at the link.
- Illegal mist-netting of shorebirds is one of the many threats faced by Spoon-billed Sandpipers, one of the most endangered birds in the world.
- A campaign in New Zealand seeks stricter controls on the country's cat population, including asking owners not to replace their pets when they die, in order to protect the endemic bird populations.
- Audubon Magazine Blog: When the Mercury Drops, Great Horned Owls Gear Up for Courtship
- The Smaller Majority: Life in the season of death
- Laelaps: Kakapo Coprolite Yields Conservation Clues
- The Scicurious Brain: Dragonflies keeping their eyes on the prize
- Extinction Countdown: Critically Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf Released into Arizona Wild
- Not Exactly Rocket Science: Dung Beetles Watch the Galaxy (That’s How They Roll)
- Recent studies of wildlife in the Chernobyl exclusion zone show that most wildlife populations within the zone are doing rather well, especially compared to areas with human settlements. There are some exceptions, and smaller animals seem to suffer worse effects than larger ones. In addition, the studies done to date have some important weaknesses.
- Wombats are struggling to survive in Australia because of a number of factors, including an invasive mites and sport shooting. Also in Australia, conservationists are attempting to create a population of Tasmanian devils that is free from an unusual parasitic form of cancer that is ravaging the Tasmanian devil population.
- An illustrator created a whimsical map of Pangaea, the landmass the existed when all of the continents were fused together.
- The New Yorker has a lengthy article on the world of fossil smuggling. Some it is probably relevant to wildlife and antiquities smuggling as well.
- In his inaugural address on Monday, Obama suggested that climate change would be a priority in his second term. However, it is unclear how much he can accomplish. Climate change legislation is almost certainly off the table, so any improvements will need to come through regulatory action.
- Meanwhile, the governor of Nebraska has approved a new route for the Keystone XL pipeline, which means the Obama administration will have to make another decision on whether to allow the pipeline.
