Tea Bird

Pittsburgh’s National Aviary Expansion Plans Revealed

After 9 years, Pittsburgh’s National Aviary’s expansion plans will begin to be implemented this Spring. The
From Trib has details:

An indoor free-flight bird theater and an open-air rooftop theater for birds-of-prey highlight the long-awaited $23-million expansion plans the National Aviary revealed this morning.
…
The rooftop raptor theater will be 66 feet in diameter, according to [...]

Thousands flee fighting as Congo rebels seize gorilla park

This is awful news for gorilla conservation. The civil war raging in Congo has been terrible for Virunga National Park, but now rebels have taken over its headquarters.

The rebels also seized the headquarters of Virunga National Park in eastern Congo after intense fighting with the Congolese army, according to a statement by park [...]

Neanderthals Grew Fast, but Sexual Maturity Came Late

From National Geographic News :

Live fast, die young—this is how our closest relatives the Neanderthals were traditionally thought to progress through life.
But a new study of Neanderthal skeletons suggests the species grew quickly but reached sexual maturity later than so-called modern humans—and quite possibly survived to a ripe old age.
The study also suggests that Neanderthals [...]

Palin’s ‘Savagery’

Blake Dvorak is absolutely wrong about the utility and scientific validity of wolf bounties. Simply because an AP wire story has a he said-she said framework on this story does not mean that serious wildlife biologists who are not bound to goals of increasing trophy moose hunting dollars in Alaska actually think that this [...]

Palin’s ‘Savagery’

From Palitical:

Blake Dvorak is absolutely wrong about the utility and scientific validity of wolf bounties. Simply because an AP wire story has a he said-she said framework on this story does not mean that serious wildlife biologists who are not bound to goals of increasing trophy moose hunting dollars in Alaska actually think that [...]

Neanderthals Grew Fast, but Sexual Maturity Came Late

From National Geographic News :

Live fast, die young—this is how our closest relatives the Neanderthals were traditionally thought to progress through life.
But a new study of Neanderthal skeletons suggests the species grew quickly but reached sexual maturity later than so-called modern humans—and quite possibly survived to a ripe old age.
The study also suggests that Neanderthals [...]

Palin and Aerial Hunting of Wolves and Bears

I find this appalling across party lines and have heard from folks in both parties surprised and upset by this. One explanation for this in her defense that I’ve heard is that there must be an overpopulation of carnivores in Alaska. This is absolute nonsense. Ask any wildlife biologist or ecologist whether there’s [...]

Hey Baby … Deep-Voiced Deer Lucky in Love (LiveScience.com)

From Live Science:

This new finding might do Barry White proud - deeper voices can help male deer get it on.

Wolves would rather eat salmon

From BMC Ecology:

Although most people imagine wolves chasing deer and other hoofed animals, new research suggests that, when they can, wolves actually prefer fishing to hunting. The study, published today in the open access journal BMC Ecology, shows that when salmon is available, wolves will reduce deer hunting activity and instead focus on seafood.

From [...]

Communing With Crows

From a letter to the Editor at the NY Times comes this gem that’s right up my alley:

I’m glad that researchers are documenting the interspecies social skills of crows. Our family lore tells of Klaus, the crow who befriended my great-uncle Jens. Uncle Jens boasted of Klaus’s intelligence, and tolerated his pilferage of small shiny [...]