Artificial light influences the behavior of many nocturnal animals such as bats, which are very sensitive to all types of lighting. Particularly critical is the illumination of natural caves in which bats roost. Cave illumination is widespread in tourist areas worldwide and disturbs the animals in their resting places. Researchers of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (MPIO) have now investigated how the illumination of […]

Birds of a feather may flock together, but the feathers of birds differ altogether.

Sheep and dog bones can be whittled into orthopedic pins that stabilize pigeons' fractured wings, helping the fractures to heal properly without follow-up surgery. Researchers describe the treatment, which is cheaper and more efficient than using metal pins for pigeon rehabilitative surgeries, November 20th in the journal Heliyon.

The generation of species-specific singing in songbirds is associated with species-specific patterns of gene activity in brain regions called song nuclei, according to a study published November 12 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Kazuhiro Wada of Hokkaido University in Japan, and colleagues. According to the authors, the findings could be a promising step toward a better understanding of the contribution of multiple genes to the evolution of behaviors.

Antibiotic resistance has become a global health problem due to decades of misuse of these drugs in both human and veterinary medicine. Nowadays, the prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria in humans, domestic animals and livestock has increased, hindering the finding of the correct treatment for infectious diseases that before were not a problem. This is especially true in hospital settings, where antimicrobial pressure is extremely high and patients are immunocompromised and more prone to […]