'Power napping' in pigeons

This release is available in German . In humans, as in all mammals, sleep consists of two phases: deep, dreamless slow-wave-sleep (SWS) alternates with dream phases, called Rapid Eye Movement (REM)-sleep. Although several studies suggest that information is processed and memories are c...

Pigeon Feathers to Judge Pollution Levels

... the University of Rajasthan, the shed feathers of pigeons can indicate the pollution level of the area they ...eathers are tested in the lab. Initially, 25 pigeons were caught from different areas. Their feathers w...course of the study, it was found that feathers of pigeons from Sanganeri Gate and Ajmeri Gate of the city ha...

Hong Kong on Bird Flu Alert

...ain precautions against avian influenza. Letters have also been issued to the farmers, pet bird shop owners, licence holders of pet poultry and racing pigeons reminding them that proper precautions must be taken," he said. "We will visit villages again to ensure that no poultry is being kept illegally....

Pigeons And Sparrows In UK Face Bird Flu Risk

...ch dreaded bird flu virus may be carried across by pigeons into city centres in UK//. The feral birds have th...d flu viral strain. The exact mechanism of how pigeons contract the infection and spread the virus is unk... Inhalation of faecal dust from bird flu infected pigeons could pose a significant health hazard to human be...

Pigeons in Medical Dictionary

Paratyphoid

...... Paratyphoid fever is a major clinical problem in India, but large outbreaks were ... PARATYPHOID ... Paratyphoid is a deadly killer of pigeons and also one of the most difficult ... was no drug on the market to fight Paratyphoid in pigeons. ... Offers information on how the disease ...

Pigeons in Biological News

Homing pigeons get their bearings from their beaks

It has long been recognized that birds possess the ability to use the Earth’s magnetic field for their navigation, although just how this is done has not yet been clarified. However, the discovery of iron-containing structures in the beaks of homing pigeons in a new study (1) by Gerta Fleissner an...

A bird's eye view of art

... pigeons could be art critics yet, according to a new study 1 which shows that like humans, pigeons can be trained to tell the difference between 'goo...or Shigeru Watanabe from Keio University in Japan, pigeons use both color and pattern cues to judge the paint...

Village bird study highlights loss of wildlife knowledge from one

... of four easily recognisable birds - sparrows, starlings, bluetits and wood pigeons - had increased or declined in the village in the last 20 years. In reality...rrows and starlings have declined in the area over this period, whilst wood pigeons and blue tits have increased. The results showed that older people could...

Want to fly? Don't copy the birds and the bees

...compromise winged creatures face between meeting aerodynamic requirements and overcoming inertia in order to generate lift, by loading wings of racing pigeons with lead fishing weights. He believes that lessons from all of these studies lead to the same conclusion. "My work should act as a reminder to be c...

Ape language pioneer Savage-Rumbaugh receives honorary Ph.D. from alma mater

...ll different angles, and this changed my research focus to include cognitive development in non-human primates. Experimental psychology was focused on pigeons and rats at the time, and it was not going to take us where we needed to go. We needed to include great apes." In her remarks to graduates of her a...

For migrating sparrows, kids have a compass, but adults have the map

...omalies in the Earth's crust that it's also possible they are navigating by sense of smell. It sounds crazy, but there's a lot of evidence that homing pigeons navigate this way, so we need to investigate that idea further." ...

Ecologists discover city is 'uber-forest' for big owls

...is like they are trap-lining the local birdfeeders. The visiting hawks are not as successful, however, when it comes to nesting. Cities abound with pigeons and doves, which are good prey for hawks but often carry a microbial parasite that is fatal to the hawks young. The urban environment thus creates an ...

City birds better than rural species in coping with human disruption

... implying that at one time the species occupied the area where the city is now. Some birds on the urban list starlings, parrots, crows, sparrows, pigeons and doves would be expected to be found in cities, Bonier said. However the researchers only looked at species native to a particular area, so starli...

Light guides flight of migratory birds

...80s, he was doing research to determine how homing pigeons navigated. There was a theory that wind-borne odors provide pigeons with information about the locations of odor sourc...walls of the loft to rotate direction of the wind. pigeons housed in the so-called "deflector lofts" showed t...

Pigeons provide clue to solving common problem in heart patients

... Through studying pigeons with genetic heart disease, researchers at Wake Fo...archers sought to find the answer in two breeds of pigeons ?one that is genetically susceptible to heart atta...scle cells from the heart vessels of white carneau pigeons are prone to uncontrolled growth. "Understandi...

Pigeons in Biological Definition

Experimental evolution

... a chapter on variation in domestic animals. In this chapter, Darwin discussed in particular the pigeon. He wrote: "Altogether at least a score of pigeons might be chosen, which if shown to an ornithologist, and he were told that they were wild birds, would certainly, I think, be ranked by him as well-de...