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Getting the Bill – Taste, Touch and Smell in Birds

10,000 Birds

Whilst catfish have around 100,000 taste buds, rabbits around 17,000 and humans approximately 9,000, birds rarely exceed 100 of these receptors. But certain bird species go against the grain here and some even appear to have a better sense of smell than many mammals, humans included. Let’s talk about taste.

Birds 214
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We Should Kill More Lions

10,000 Birds

The answer should be obvious to anyone familiar with wildfowl hunting in the US and the film Jerry McGuire – money. If you want to have the “thrill” of shooting a wild lion (not a canned hunt), well, you’re going to need a lot of land to sustain those lions. Take the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania.

Lions 183
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Africa’s Barbets

10,000 Birds

This remote region of Cryptosepalum forests is little changed by human hands (somewhat of a rarity in these times of devastating habitat destruction) yet this species has not been relocated despite extensive searches by birders (including myself). The reasons for this hugely fragmented population have yet to be fully unraveled.

Ethiopia 230