Archiv der Kategorie: Vögel

Snap-shots of a Live Foodchain – The Seagull that caught a Garfish with a Sprat in its Mouth

We all know depictions of food chains and food webs from books or museums, which show how small herbivores or planctivores are eaten by larger predators which are again eaten by even larger predators. But it´s incredibly rare to see … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter allgemeine Zoologie, Blogposts in English, Fische, Vögel | Verschlagwortet mit | Schreib einen Kommentar

Curiosity of the Day: A Native American bag made from a pelican head

Today´s Curiosity of the Day is a very remarkable bag made from a pelican head. It is on display in the exhibition about First Nations in the Canadian Museum of History, Ottawa. Sadly the only available information was that it … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Curiosity of the Day, Ethnology, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar

The Nightmare Look of Naked Owls – how Feathers Conceal a Bird´s True Shape

Today I want to show you one of the coolest bird specimens I have ever seen in a museum, a bodycast of a barn owl (Tyto alba) with removed feathers. This gives us a great opportunity to see the enormous … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Anatomie, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar

Shit happens part IX: The fatal snake hunger of a grebe

Bizarre deaths and accidents of animals were already covered for several times on the blog, especially in the shit happens-series. Today I want to feature an interesting specimen to continue this topic. This is a partially dissected great crested grebe … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Reptilien, shit happens, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar

The bird that follows in the footsteps of the dinosaurs

Technically, all modern birds are dinosaurs, descendents of a lineage of theropods that evolved complex feathers and the ability to fly. But to be honest… most of them don´t really look very „saurian“ anymore. Those fancy feathers, toothless beaks and … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Dinosaurier, Vögel | Ein Kommentar

A moustache for the elephant bird – had Aepyornis facial bristles?

A recent study in which digital endocasts of elephant bird skulls from Madagascar were examined, has shown that those gigantic flightless birds had extremely reduced optical lobes. At the same time, their olfactory lobes were very large, what indicates that … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter ausgerottete Arten, Megafauna, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar

Out-of-place flamingos at Bavaria

During my recent visit to the Chiemgau Alps, I made also a day trip to Chiemsee, one of the largest Bavarian lakes. I made a slight detour to a nature reserve around the area where the river Großache issues into … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Naturbeobachtungen, Neozoen, Vögel | Ein Kommentar

The spiny wing quills of the cassowary

Cassowaries are unusual and weird by nearly every standard, but the general focus is mainly on their flamboyant heads and necks and their formidable foot claws. But there is just so much more noteworthy about them. For example their extraordinaire … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Anatomie, Vögel | Schreib einen Kommentar

Don´t forget the blood and guts – for the sake of badass feathered theropods

Feathered theropods have some issues. A lot of people just don´t like them. Movies like  „Jurassic World“ have also shown that the mere idea of theropods being mainly covered in some sort of feathers or filaments is still far away … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Dinosaurier, Paläontologie, Populäre Irrtümer, Vögel | 3 Kommentare

Shit happens part V – grasped by killer mussels

Bivalves are usually not the kind of animals which are regarded as potentially dangerous. But they can actually cause a lot of trouble or even fatal accidents if they accidentally grasp other beings with their shells. One of this cases … Weiterlesen

Veröffentlicht unter Amphibien, Mollusken, shit happens, Vögel, Wirbellose | Schreib einen Kommentar