Posts Tagged ‘bird’
Happy Thanksgiving! Celebrate by eating a Dinosaur!
We love Thanksgiving! The stuffing, green beans and pumpkin pie… mmmmm. But the traditional main course is of course… dinosaur.
“What!?!?” you say! Well watch this video from Nat Geo that describes how the turkey on your dinner table evolved from theropod dinosaurs.
New Bird Evolves Faster than Any Other
Posted by: Avi in New Discoveries on March 23rd, 2009
A bird recently discovered in the Solomon Islands is a member of the White Eyes (Zosteropidae) family that evolves more rapidly than any other bird. - Dr. Chris Filardi, American Musuem of Natural History
The Vanikoro White Eye is a newly discovered species of bird, found on the tiny island of Ranongga. Genetic analysis of the White Eye birds of the Solomon Islands shows that there are 13 different species, some on islands as close as 2km apart. There are over 100 species of White Eyes around the world.
Tri-species illustration - BirdLife International
Rob Moyle from the University of Kansas said, “As we started to compile the data, we were shocked…White-eye species from across the family’s range had strikingly similar gene sequences, indicating a recent origin and incredibly rapid diversification.” Due to the its rapid capacity for diversification, some call White Eyes the Great Speciator. DNA analysis of many White Eyes species showed that they can generate about 2-3 new species every million years.
Crazy Transforming Owl
Posted by: Avi in New Discoveries on March 1st, 2009
Although this video is in Japanese, it is pretty easy to tell what is going on. Watch and be amazed & amused as this owl reacts when it is confronted by two different competing species of predatory bird.
