Society for Science & the Public, which publishes Science News, uses cookies to personalize your experience and improve our services. For more information on how we use cookies on our websites, visit our Cookie Policy.
News in Brief Animals

Even a tiny oil spill spells bad news for birds

Eating small amounts of the crude form left the animals lagging

duckling covered in oil

OILED UP  Consuming even small amounts of crude oil can make birds sluggish.

JackWylieShot/iStockphoto

By Laurel Hamers

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Animals

  1. aye-aye
    Life

    Aye-ayes just got weirder with the discovery of a tiny, sixth ‘finger’

    By Sofie Bates
  2. white bellbird
    Animals

    White bellbirds have the loudest known mating call of any bird

    By Sofie Bates
  3. turtle embryo
    Life

    A peek inside a turtle embryo wins the Nikon Small World photography contest

    By Jonathan Lambert
  4. woman holding dog
    Animals

    New books explore why dogs and humans have such a special bond

    By Cassandra Willyard
  5. Health & Medicine

    These tiny aquatic animals secrete a compound that may help fight snail fever

    By Sofie Bates
  6. humpback whale bubble net
    Animals

    Humpback whales use their flippers and bubble ‘nets’ to catch fish

    By Sofie Bates
  7. tardigrade
    Life

    How tardigrades protect their DNA to defy death

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  8. burrowing owl
    Ecosystems

    Burrowing birds create pockets of rich plant life in a desert landscape

    By Priyanka Runwal

From the Nature Index

Paid Content