Birds •

“Dinosaurs Among Us” Exhibit Opens at Museum of Natural History

Not many of you might be aware of the fact that there is a link between dinosaurs and birds that was established since the times of Charles Darwin. The “Dinosaurs Among Us” exhibit that has opened at the American Museum of Natural History aims to disperse some common misconceptions that are usually presented in the movies.

The show opened yesterday on March 21 and explores the link between the modern birds of our times and the prehistoric dinosaurs. Visitors get a unique chance to view various fossils and dinosaur and bird models until January 2 next year when the show will close. You will be able to see different creatures, from the huge Yutyrannus that stood tall at 23 feet to Anchiornis huxleyi which reached the size of a pigeon.

While the idea that the terrifying Tyrannosaurus Rex and a pigeon are related might bring a couple of laughs, it is nonetheless true. Birds are the only animals left on Earth that can truly be considered as part of the ancestors of our planet. The name of the exhibit stresses this out, as we are still currently living with dinosaurs, one way or another.

The main purpose of “Dinosaurs Among Us” is to explore the connection between the feathered creatures and the ancient animals that did not even share the world with us at the same time. While we have seen in movies such as Jurassic Park that dinosaurs are mostly similar to today’s reptiles, the interior of the beasts is very much bird-like, from their brains and habits to their hollow bones and feathers.

According to the curator of the exhibit, Mark Norell, imagining dinosaurs with bird behaviors is simply fascinating, such as displaying their feather to either intimidate their enemies or to mate. He believes it is truly a pity that these details have not been closely observed.

Should you visit the exposition, you will be able to view a wide variety of feathers, as well as the numerous similarities between the two types of animals. According to paleontology researcher Ashley Heers from the American Museum of Natural History, researchers are currently discovering more similarities, such as their movement and their brooding over the nests.

The exhibit will be open for all for nine months during which visitors will understand that we are still living with about 13,000 species of modern flying dinosaurs.

Image Source: METRO

Citizen Scientists Needed for Annual Bird Count

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The Great Backyard Bird Count – an annual event that will be held this year from Feb. 12 to 15 – invites amateur birdwatchers, as well as experts, to gather data on birds in the area.

The project, founded by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, focuses on learning more about bird behaviour, conservation strategies, and bird environments. Public participation plays a key role in this type of scientific research.

Jon McCracken, national program manager at Bird Studies Canada, said that more and more citizen science projects similar to the Great Backyard Bird Count are taking place all over the world. A lot more scientists are now also relying on observations made by the public to help them collect data on a greater scale, McCracken added.

People can choose their levels of involvement in the project. They can watch and count birds for a mere fifteen minutes a day, or for many hours each day, according to McCracken.

Sheila Jasanoff, a professor of science and technology studies at the Harvard Kennedy School, said that the concept of citizen science is not something new. Ever since the 1700s, amateur naturalists helped record and index local animal and plant life, she explained. Nowadays, the fields of ornithology and astronomy still attract a lot of communities, Jasanoff noted.

The level of engagement and communication between scientists and the public has changes a lot with the Internet and social media. Mobile-phone technology is an especially important tool (among others) that birdwatchers have today.

Andrew Maynard, a professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, and Director of the Risk Innovation Lab, stated that thanks to new technology, ordinary people now have a great deal of opportunities to collect data for research, contribute toward scientific progress, and become more engaged in science.

Other citizen science projects include: JellyWatch, launched with the help of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California; Firefly Watch, of the Museum of Science in Boston; Bat Detective, run by Zooniverse.

To this day, the Great Backyard Bird Count (launched in 1998) remains one of the most enduring citizen science projects. A record of 147,265 bird checklists was entered in 2015 by people in more than one hundred countries, who also took notes of changes in bird behaviour, according to the researchers.

Image Source: upload. wikimedia. org

Drunk birds behave same way as humans do: They also slur their words

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A new study has found that birds, who have been given alcohol even in the low quantity, face trouble in chirping and singing their songs as drinking makes them slur their words just as humans do when they are drunk.

With the help of the study, the researchers were able to better understand the speech impairment effect of the alcohol on cognitive function.

The study, conducted by the researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University, helped in testing the effects of alcohol consumption on the birds’ communication skills. For the study, the team selected zebra finches as these bird species are known to better understand vocal learning in humans.

Christopher Olson, study researcher, said, “We just showed up in the morning and mixed a little bit of juice with six percent alcohol, and put it in their water bottles and put it in the cages.”

“At first we were thinking that they wouldn’t drink on their own because, you know, a lot of animals just won’t touch the stuff. But they seem to tolerate it pretty well and be somewhat willing to consume it,” Olson said.

The researchers found that just the slightest of buzzes brought changes in the features of the chirping of the birds. It was found that the birds’ voice became a bit fainter and slurred upon alcohol consumption.

“Most birds likely just get a bit tipsy and very few people would be able to pick them out as intoxicated. However, every now and then, some birds just overdo it,” said Meghan Larivee, an Environment Yukon researcher.

The study’s findings are detailed in the journal PLOS ONE.

When did birds lose teeth? Scientists say 116 million years ago

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Have you ever thought of why birds don’t have teeth? Evolutionary scientists say the birds’ ancestors possessed teeth. But the million dollar question arises when did birds lose their teeth?

A team of biologists at the Montclair State University and the University of California in Riverside examined the fossil record of birds and analyzed the tooth genes that were degraded in bird DNA.

During the analysis, the researchers found strong clues confirming that one of the common ancestors of birds made the switch over100 million years ago.

In a press release, lead study investigator Mark Springer said, “One of the larger lessons of our finding is that dead genes, like the remnants of dead organisms that are preserved in the fossil record, have a story to tell.”

Springer is a professor of biology at University of California, Riverside.

The birds are not the only species to give up teeth but turtles have also tried for the beak, while several mammal groups like anteaters, pangolins and baleen whales have also developed alternate oral feeding tools.

According to Springer, each of these animals has a common ancestor possessing teeth. When talked in the case of birds, it is theropod dinosaurs.

But, the scientists say at some point between the theropods and the first birds’ species, the avian ancestors started swapping out teeth for a beak. Following analysis of the decaying nature of six genes associated with the teeth formation, the scientists indicated the transformation was solidified by 116 million years ago.

According to Springer, this progression ultimately led to a complete horny beak that replaced the teeth effectively and most likely have contributed to the diversification of living birds.

The study’s findings were detailed on Monday in the journal Science.

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