You can know a lot of things about birds just by the shape of their wings. A seafaring albatross, stretching out its sail-like airfoils, lives a very different life from a ground-dwelling antpitta ...

For centuries, scientists have observed that animals in warmer climates have longer limbs—a pattern known as Allen's Rule. Long attributed to the need to maintain body temperature, the precise ...

Form—function relationships are one of the pillars of biodiversity. Morphological features have diverged in size and shape among lineages and impart different abilities to interact with the ...

Among the roughly 10,000 known bird species on Earth, only one family can sustain true backward flight. Hummingbirds achieve ...

Have you ever felt that a person in a portrait is watching you, their eyes following you about a room? This optical illusion is known as the Mona Lisa effect, after Leonardo da Vinci’s famously ...

Climate change is shrinking our birds. Birds in both North and South America are getting smaller as the planet warms, and the smallest-bodied species are changing the fastest, a study reported Monday.

There are many hypotheses explaining the diversity of colours and patterns found in nature, but they are often difficult to examine empirically. Recent studies show the dark upperside of gliding birds ...

Scientists have compared the relationship among the strength of flight bones, body mass, and the way modern birds fly to better understand the evolution of flight in birds and extinct animals, such as ...

“Awkward” would probably be the most benevolent word I could use to describe the explosive launch into flight of the California quail. Certainly, the words graceful or athletic do not come to mind.

“Awkward” would probably be the most benevolent word I could use to describe the explosive launch into flight of the California quail. Certainly, the words graceful or athletic do not come to mind. A ...

“Awkward” would probably be the most benevolent word I could use to describe the explosive launch into flight of the California quail. Certainly, the words graceful or athletic do not come to mind. A ...