Medicine & TechnologyFive cuckoos had been recently trending on social media as followers tracked the travels of these satellite-tagged birds. Scientists from the Mongolia Cuckoo Project are calling this 'a mammoth journey.'
Nowadays, it is commonplace to hear various animal sounds everywhere. But ever wondered how all those sounds came to be? That is the thought that John Weins and Zhuo Chen had when they published "The Origins of Acoustic Communication".
Hummingbirds are effortlessly among mature's most beautiful creatures and ornithologists have been wondering why its colors are so special. In a recent study by the Field Museum, scientists may now have an answer to an age-old question.
The researchers were lucky to find a three-dimensional preserved pigeon-sized bird skeleton which can largely help in understanding the evolution of birds.
In order for the team to support the claims of their study, they tracked social relationships during the course of the cross seasons for the 400-species population of Vulturine Guineafowl. After marking these birds, the team discovered that there are at least 18 distinct social groups within the population that are comprised of 13 to 65 individuals each.
Poaching has become a greater threat than previously thought. The study surveyed 30,000 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, and found out that the percentage of the illegally traded animals are 40-60% higher and will continue to rise unless stopped.
The chameleon, the woodpecker, and the Venus flytrap trap their prey using stored elastic energy. This gave the researchers inspiration leading to the development of a new class of high-powered, high-speed soft robots.