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Early Bird Archaeopteryx Grew More Like A Dinosaur
Modern birds grow amazingly fast. After hatching, many species grow to adult size in a matter of days to weeks. But a new study published in the journal PLoS One suggests that birds did not always exhibit the same rapid rate of growth. By looking at chips of bone taken from the legs of some of the ...
October 14, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Tiny Cameras Show Albatrosses on the Hunt
Scientists from Britain and Japan used sophisticated techniques to study the feeding behavior of the black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) at sea. A lot of useful information came out of this study, but the single item you will likely hear most about is a really cool photograph, taken ...
October 07, 2009 |
By Greg Laden
Why Do Some Females Have Horns?
Greg Laden is guest-blogging this week while Sarah is on vacation. You can find his regular blog at Scienceblogs.com and Quiche Moraine.We are talking mainly about bovids (cattle and antelope), which grow horns over their lifetime, and deer, which grow antlers every year. In most well known bovids ...
October 02, 2009 |
By Greg Laden
Denver’s Street-Smart Prairie Dogs
Researchers explore why members of one species are thriving in urban areas while rural populations dwindle
October 02, 2009 |
By Morgan E. Heim
Return of the Sandpiper
Thanks to the Delaware Bay's horseshoe crabs, the tide may be turning for an imperiled shorebird
October 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Tyrannosaurus Suffered From Bird Disease
By now it should not surprise anyone that birds and theropod dinosaurs were closely related. Numerous discoveries have revealed that many "bird" characteristics, like feathers, first evolved in dinosaurs and were passed on to the avian descendants of one group of theropods called coelurosaurs. Tyra...
September 30, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
The Eastern Pacific Black Ghost Shark
I'm Greg Laden, and I usually blog at here at Scienceblogs.com and Quiche Moraine. I'm a biological anthropologist interested in human evolution, the biologies of race and gender, human hunter-gatherers, science education and African prehistory. I've been asked to fill in here at Surprising Scien...
September 28, 2009 |
By Greg Laden
Feathers Before Archaeopteryx
Ever since the first skeleton of Archaeopteryx was discovered in 1861, the feathered dinosaur has been considered the oldest bird. During the last several decades, however, scientists have found that many "bird" features, such as feathers, first appeared among theropod dinosaurs. What defines a bir...
September 25, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Rare Kitty Caught on Film
Biologists aren't certain how many African golden cats (Profelis aurata) remain in central Africa. The IUCN Red List places the the cat in the "Near Threatened" category, saying that there are probably around 10,000 or so left, though that is little more than an educated guess. People are more like...
September 21, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Swim Through the Ocean's Future
Can a remote, geologically weird island in the South Pacific forecast the fate of coral reefs?
September 17, 2009 |
By Christopher Pala
Gorillas Hunted for Bushmeat in Congo
About two western lowland gorillas are killed and sold in local markets as bushmeat each week in the region of Kouilou in Congo, according to an undercover investigation. It may not sound like much, but it represents about 4 percent of the local population each month, and half of the population eac...
September 16, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Is Yawning Contagious for Chimpanzees Too?
Watch the video above. Did you yawn? Contagious yawning occurs when someone around you yawns and you yawn in response. It's an involuntary response. Humans do it, and so do chimpanzees. In chimps, researchers have linked the behavior with empathy, so researchers studying empathy in chimps sometimes...
September 15, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Curse of the Labrador Duck
You have never seen a live Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius); the species went extinct in the late 1800s. The rather plain-looking bird isn't found on display in many museums, and other extinct birds like auks and moas get more attention, all of which might explain why I had never heard of...
September 08, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Morocco's Extraordinary Donkeys
The author returns to Fez to explore the stubborn animal's central role in the life of this desert kingdom
September 2009 |
By Susan Orlean
Seven Threatened Cats You May Not Know
The big cats get all the attention, it seems. Lions, tigers and cheetahs are all threatened, but they are not the only cat species whose populations are in danger. Here are seven small cat species under threat:Black-footed cat (Felis nigripes)Lives in: the steppes and savannas of southern AfricaEat...
August 17, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Mad About Seashells
Collectors have long prized mollusks for their beautiful exteriors, but for scientists, it’s what inside that matters
August 2009 |
By Richard Conniff
Five Favorite Penguins Outside Antarctica
Of all the species of penguins, more than half can be found only outside Antarctica. One of our favorites is in the Galapagos
August 10, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Picture of the Week — Ancient Spider in 3-D
Eophrynus prestivicii (left) and Cryptomartus hindi are species of spiders that lived about 300 million years ago. Discovering the details of their biology from fossils isn't easy, especially since these arachnids were only about an inch long. So scientists from England and Germany took more than 3...
August 07, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Orangutans Use Leaves to Sound Bigger
An orangutan will produce an alarm call known as a "kiss squeak" when it encounters a predator like a snake or a human. The kiss squeak is produced by drawing a sharp intake of air through pursed lips (see this video for an example). Sometimes, though, an orangutan will take a branch, strip the lea...
August 06, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
