10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

Or, Pygmy leaf-folding frogs, Afrixalus brachycnemis, from Tanzania, tiny climbing frogs who lay their eggs in leaves and then fold the leaves over them for protection, sealing the nest with secretions. This exhibit has been making the rounds of science museums, and if comes to your area I highly recommend it, not just for kids.

Reptiles 183

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 183

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

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

Penguins 154

Penguins Seals Leopards Research 154

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

They’re about protecting a system that produces cheap food. Mr. Hurst flippantly questions the ability to measure a pig’s happiness, but sound science—not to mention common sense—clearly establishes that mother pigs locked in gestation crates with so little space that they cannot turn around for most of their lives do indeed suffer.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Gestation Crates Gestation 40

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

This bit of science is a nice final counterpoint to an account that has emphasized art, history, and literature. He effectively brings his point across by presenting facts and images and a little bit of hard science. How many eggs did a pigeon lay? I think this is one of the reasons I enjoy reading his books.

2014 160

2014 Killing Michigan Kentucky 160

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

More than 150 bird species are known to have become extinct over the past 500 years, and many more are estimated to have been driven to extinction before they became known to science. This colony outlived dozens of others as it was protected by the local religious belief that the ibises migrated each year to guide Hajj pilgrims to Mecca.

Endangered Species 187

Endangered Species Species Morocco South Africa 187

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

These fossils are seen as proof that some dinosaurs brooded over its eggs. Pickrell, an Australian science writer who grew up in Great Britain and studied for his master’s degree at London’s Natural History Museum, is clearly engaged with his subject. There is a lot of science here to explain. Like birds.

Mongolia 181

Mongolia Science Reptiles Indiana 181

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2013

If we were just birders, or photographers, this would be dreadful behavior, but we were here to watch people engaged in Science. And Science requires Sacrifice. To understand, and thus to protect. Enough to draw the attention of a predator. Do I sound facetious? I’m not. Thank you, brave Starling. I salute you.

Eagles 173

Eagles Tethering Science Wounded 173

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2024

He also served with the 13th Light Dragoons, fighting with them at Waterloo (though he can only have been about 18 at that point – I guess child protection laws were somewhat lax at that time). Which sounds like a species name taken from a science fiction novel for children. A giant squirrel, actually. Or something like that.

Squirrels 137

Squirrels Birds China Bears 137

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2014

by Arthur Ransome, 1947, starts with an affectionate recollection of a children’s book, in which a group of kids identify and protect a possibly rare bird (Great Northern Diver?), 32, 1887) and Egg collection (no. YOC was the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ Young Ornithologists’ Club.

Mauritius 172

Mauritius Collecting Egypt Cyprus 172

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2011

Earlier attempts to spread the risk around had failed, so Don and his team applied science to the problem, spending several months studying the birds in the wild in order to work out how to care for them and to decide what type of habitat to release them into. It worked, and the translocated birds were soon breeding.

Species 223

Species New Zealand Rats Endangered Species 223