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Birds
Bed and breakfast available, only for a year
Issue Date: Jun 30, 1993
BIRDS are among the most fascinating of creatures. They tirelessly build exquisite nests and care for their eggs and nestlings. But even birds have their parasites, the most famous being the cuckoo, which never builds its own nest and spends no effort in incubating its eggs or caring for its chicks.
Was the Archaeopteryx: Bird or dinosaur?
Issue Date: Jun 30, 1993
HOW DID birds learn to fly? For over a decade now, this question has been at the centre of a debate about whether Archaeopteryx, the world's oldest bird-like creature -- found nearly 150 million years ago -- was a bird or a dinosaur.
Clinton caught between loggers and the owl
Issue Date: May 31, 1993
IN US President Bill Clinton's nightmares, an endangered owl species must play a starring role, for he is trapped in the dilemma of protecting it or the jobs of thousands of loggers.
Turning on the sexually fastidious female
Issue Date: May 15, 1993
HUMANS are not the only animal species to possess a sense of beauty. Recent research bears out the controversial view of 19th century British naturalist Charles Darwin that animals have an eye for beauty. He offered this as an explanation for the preference of females for the gaudiest males.
Thais dig deep into wallets for songbirds
Issue Date: May 15, 1993
THAILAND is literally a land of happy people for in the local language, thai means happy. The Thais are nature lovers and they are so fond of songbirds, they keep them as pets. Often, houses in Bangkok, the capital, have a decorated cage in which a bird coos melodiously. But unlike Indians, who have a penchant for parrots, mynahs, pigeons and love birds, the Thais prefer doves.
Chilika documentary fails to make a point
Issue Date: Mar 31, 1993
It is perhaps a comment on how strident documentary film-making has become that one is puzzled by a film on a newsy, controversial subject that fails to make a point.
European bird pioneers new route
Issue Date: Mar 15, 1993
BIRD MIGRATION patterns can change dramatically over decades and scientists say global warming can increase the incidence of such changes.
Drastic changes in climate and landscape during the ice ages led to many birds altering their migratory routes. Such changes occur at present as well, but too gradually to be noticeable. Scientists now report the blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) has made a major change in its migration route in just 30 years (Nature, Vol 360 No 6405).
Venomous vendetta
Issue Date: Mar 15, 1993
IT WAS a strange case of politicians taking out their venom on snakes. Angry CPM workers in Kerala vandalised and set fire to the Parassinikkadavu Snake Park in Kannur. The reason for the wanton destruction of what was one of the finest snake sanctuaries in Asia, was the defeat of the CPM nominees in a recent election to the governing body of the A K G Memorial Cooperative Hospital.
Birds of a feather
Issue Date: Feb 15, 1993
KAREN Perremans and her colleagues at the Zoological Institute at Leuven in Belgium have discovered that birds have unique "featherprints," which may make it possible to identify bird species by analysing a small piece of feather (BBC Wildlife, Vol 10, No 12).
