article thumbnail

The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent focuses on this last question, but you might find yourself fascinated by the first two, which come early in the book but linger on in the imagination as author Danielle J. Do birds use odors and a sense of smell to communicate with each other? But Danielle Whittaker has.

Science 230
article thumbnail

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

10,000 Birds

As we know from the French documentary La Marche de l’Empereur ( March of the Penguins) , the females skedaddle from the breeding colony once she produces an egg, leaving the egg to be incubated by the males, who fast for 120 days while keeping the egg in a flap of their feet. (I And it really is annotated!

Penguins 162
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Bird Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Avian Lives–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

He has written and co-written over 400 scientific papers on brood parasitism, Common Cuckoos, egg rejection and other nesting behaviors, and fairy wren learning in addition to T he Book of Eggs: A Life-Size Guide to the Eggs of Six Hundred of the World’s Bird Species (Univ. Mark Hauber is currently (just appointed!)

Chicago 188
article thumbnail

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
article thumbnail

Teaching Ornithology in High Schools

10,000 Birds

Manker’s thesis is that ornithology is an excellent gateway to students becoming science majors in college and, more broadly and longer-term, conservation-minded citizens. Of course, there was conventional classroom time spent on topics such as mechanics of flight, metabolism, digestion, nest building, egg production, and so forth.

2018 264
article thumbnail

The Bird Way: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

For one thing, we become more aware of cultural biases in our science (new findings on warbling female birds, for example, reveal both gender and geographic biases). Many popular science books have neither. As Ackerman explains in her Introduction, studying extreme behavior brings new insight into what we think we know.

Research 233