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Every sperm is sacred

10,000 Birds

Because unlike those of mammals, avian ova need penetration by multiple sperm in order to successfully develop into baby birds. If you’re feeling particularly science-y, the full paper is here.). This differs from humans and other mammals, in which the addition of extra sperm essentially destroys the egg.

Zebras 145
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Birding Sepilok, Borneo (Part 2)

10,000 Birds

The species is classified as Near Threatened for all the usual depressing reasons – pollution, drainage, hunting, and the collection of eggs and nestlings ( source ). In the unloved “Other” section of today’s post, we have a few more mammals.

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15 Australian Birds (Episode 6)

10,000 Birds

The Sacred Ibis was seen as the incarnation of the god Thoth, who (with gods apparently better at multitasking than humans) was (or maybe still is, who knows?) was responsible for maintaining the universe, judging the dead, and for writing and science ( source ). Possibly also for doing the dishes. Two ways of life folded at once.

Birds 147
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Journeys With Emperors: Tracking the World’s Most Extreme Penguin–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It’s all about the improbable intersection of human beings and Emperor Penguins, and if I can’t make it to an Emperor Penguin colony (highly unlikely), reading this book has been the next best thing. It’s part memoir, part travelogue, part scientific narrative, part prologue to making an argument for Antarctic conservation.

Penguins 151
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The Passenger Pigeon & A Message From Martha: One Pigeon, Two Book Reviews

10,000 Birds

And, Fuller should know; he has spent his career producing books about extinct birds and mammals, including the recent Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record, from his home in England. We immediately get a sense of the pigeons’ abundance, beauty, and danger to human activity. How many eggs did a pigeon lay?

2014 159
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Why do birds living near Chernobyl have smaller brains?

10,000 Birds

Alternatively, imagine I set the dial to produce simple heat, like the kind that comes out of your stove to cook your scrambled eggs. The kind of energy produced by a cell phone signal is way more like the heat that cooks your eggs than like the scary radiation that comes form an H-bomb or X-ray machine or whatever.

Mammals 225
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Birding the Wolongshan area in June 2023

10,000 Birds

Indeed, most cuckoo eggs are accepted by the babax ( source ), although a small proportion of hosts reject cuckoo eggs and often boast about this capability when having a few too many drinks. Meaning: we did real science, Martens did not. ” Meaning: we did real science, Martens did not.