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| A FASTER EVOLUTIONARY CLOCK? |
| A discovery by scientists studying ancient DNA from Antarctic penguins may change our understanding of how fast the tree of life grew.
New Zealand scientist, Dr David M. Lambert, and colleagues report in this week's Science on a new method of measuring the rate of DNA evolution. |
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| 343 MILLION YEARS OF PRIMATE AND CARNIVORE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY AT RISK |
| Washington, D.C. – Scientists have discovered that the greatest concentration of all primate and carnivore evolutionary history exists within those species found only in the 25 biodiversity hotspots. These species – whose combined evolutionary ages total 343 million years – represent genetic lineages that are vital to the future diversity, evolution and survival of these animals according a collaborative study published by the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) at Conservation International and biologists from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville in the Feb. 19 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). |
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| A LITTLE LARCENY COMES NATURALLY TO NORTHWESTERN CROWS |
| Crows and ravens are depicted as being clever and tricky animals in countless American Indian stories and legends. Those characterizations apparently are right on the mark, according to a pair of University of Washington researchers who have found a species of crow that is constantly looking for opportunities to steal food from other members of its flock. |
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| FOUND! THE LONGEST BIRD PENIS EVER |
| North American scientists have discovered the longest bird penis ever - a 42.5cm organ belonging to a duck. |
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| A NEW VARIETY OF AN EARLY PREHISTORIC BIRD HAS BEEN FOUND IN THE GOBI DESERT (MONGOLIA) |
| The fossil found in the Gobi desert allows to conclude that the first birds appeared in the dinosaurs’ epoch. Scientists have found a new type of prehistoric dinosaur in the Gobi desert (Mongolia). The bird named Apsaravis ukhaana relates to the Mesozoic era, to the time when dinosaurs were at the pick of their life activity. Skeleton remains of the ancient bird lived appr. 80 mln years ago were used by the American Nature Museum and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences to jointly restore the bird in 1998. The Gobi desert is a place where it’s possible to find a big accumulation of dinosaurs’ epoch fossils. |
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| WHY BIRDS OF PREY FLY TO THEIR CATCH OVER A LOGARITHMIC SPIRAL CURVE |
| It’s known that birds of prey approach to their catch over a spiral curve; now this mystery seems to be resolved. It turns out that they fly along this trajectory in order to maximally use their sharp cross sight. |
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| FLEDGLINGS ARE ABLE TO DISCERN SONGS OTHER TYPES OF BIRD SING |
| Researchers of the State University of Ohio investigated different species of sparrows. It turns out, that sparrows are genetically predisposed to remember and learn song their own type sings. Moreover, birds prefer to learn songs their own type sings, and only if there are no native birds (for instance, if fledglings were isolated from the majority of native mature birds) in the area they occupy, birds begin to learn songs, performed by other, close to them by type, species. In other words, city's sparrow fledglings won't learn songs tits sing; nevertheless, they will be able to master chirp and sing on the "language" of field sparrows, for instance. |
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| WHETHER PENGUINS LOSE EQUILIBRIUM IF PLANES AND HELICOPTERS FLY ABOVE OR NEAR THEM |
| British scientists want to investigate Antarctica to clarify whether penguins actually fall on back, loosing balance, when they are looking at a low-flying plane and helicopter. |
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| BIRDS TURN LAZY |
| The care-free coexistence of birds and man has eventually made itself known. It looks as if a century-old stereotype of a bird as man’s helper in its struggle with bad insects began to crack. |
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