Research from Moscow State University & the University of Iowa discovered that crows exhibit strong behavioral signs of analogical reasoning—the ability to solve puzzles like “bird is to air as fish is to what?” Analogical reasoning only develops in humans between the ages of three & four.
Some ducks have been observed floating through tidal rapids…
Some ducks have been observed floating through tidal rapids or fast-moving sections of rivers, and when they’ve reached the end, they hurry back to the beginning to ride over and over.
Scientists studied a parrot for 30 years and found he had the intelligence…
Scientists studied a parrot for 30 years and found he had the intelligence of a five-year-old human. He had a vocabulary of 150 words and could ask for a banana. If he was offered a nut instead, he would stare in silence, ask for the banana again, or take the nut and throw it at […]
Vultures have stomach acid so corrosive, they…
Vultures have stomach acid so corrosive, they can even digest anthrax.
In 1950, a German farmer told police that some of his chickens…
In 1950, a German farmer told police that some of his chickens “exploded with a loud bang while running around the barnyard.” An investigation showed that the chickens ate bits of carbide left behind by allied soldiers during fall maneuvers, later drank some water and the resulting gas blew them to bits.
The world’s oldest ever flamingo was badly beaten…
The world’s oldest ever flamingo was badly beaten by four teenagers, survived, and lived another 5 years to the age of 83.
Doctors successfully silenced the genes that make chickens to grow a beak, causing it to…
Doctors successfully silenced the genes that make chickens to grow a beak, causing it to revert back to it’s ancestral state: the snout of a dinosaur.
Superb fairy-wrens teach their eggs a ‘secret password’ that the young can…
Superb fairy-wrens teach their eggs a ‘secret password’ that the young can sing when they hatch. Those that sing the password get food, and the brood parasite eggs (which don’t learn the password) go hungry.
Owls fly silently due to specially designed edges of their primary feathers…
Owls fly silently due to specially designed edges of their primary feathers. When most birds fly, turbulence from air gushing over their wings creating noise. However, owls have their primary feathers serrated like a comb, which divides turbulence into tiny currents aka micro-turbulences.
City birds have learned to line their nests with cigarette butts in order…
City birds have learned to line their nests with cigarette butts in order to ward of parasites, as burnt nicotine works as an insecticide to ward off mites, lice and fleas.