213 results
- Life
Stick-toting puffins offer the first evidence of tool use in seabirds
Puffins join the ranks of tool-using birds after researchers document two birds using sticks to groom, a first for seabirds.
- Paleontology
‘Wonderchicken’ is the earliest known modern bird at nearly 67 million years old
A new fossil find, dubbed the Wonderchicken, is a common ancestor of modern ducks and chickens.
- Life
Losing genes may have helped whales’ ancestors adapt to life under the sea
Jettisoning genes tied to saliva and the lungs, among others, could have smoothed ancient cetaceans’ land-to-water transition 50 million years ago.
- Paleontology
Here’s how hefty dinosaurs sat on their eggs without crushing them
Some heavier dinos had a strategy to keep eggs warm without crushing them: sit in an opening in the middle of the clutch instead of on top of them.
- Paleontology
How birds may have escaped the dino-killing asteroid impact
A tree-loving lifestyle became a risk for ancient birds in a world-changing catastrophe.
- Animals
Bones reveal what it was like to grow up dodo
Scientists take a first look at the inside of dodo bones.
- Archaeology
Ancient Egyptian pot burials were not just for the poor
In ancient Egypt, using pots for burial containers was a symbolic choice, not a last resort, archaeologists say.
- Life
Some lucky birds escaped dino doomsday
Dino doomsday took out early birds too, but a lucky few survived.
- Animals
‘On the Wing’ chronicles origins of flying animals
In "On the Wing," a biomechanicist reviews how animals took to the air.
- Animals
Birds large and small hop over obstacles in similar ways
Bipedal birds, from tiny quail to huge ostriches, tackled a step in a similar way, minimizing energy cost and maximizing safety.
- Paleontology
Mystery fossils belonged to giant ostrichlike dinosaur
Two recently found skeletons reveal that Deinocheirus, first discovered 50 years ago, was the largest-known dinosaur of its kind.
- Animals
A guide to the world’s biggest flightless birds
A rhea on the loose in England has prompted warnings about approaching the bird. From ostriches to cassowaries, here’s your guide to friendly and unfriendly big birds.
