Tag: Birds

A new study finds that the muscles in bats’ wings operate at a significantly lower temperature than their bodies, especially during flight. Past research suggests that in most other creatures, including humans, muscles involved in exercise become warmer in response to movement. But the small muscles of a bat’s wing are uniquely vulnerable to heat

Stringing together meaningless sounds to create meaningful signals is a core feature of human language. Investigating whether animals share this basic combinatorial ability has been complicated by difficulties in identifying whether animal vocalizations are made from smaller, meaningless sounds, or building blocks. New research by scientists at the Universities of Zurich, Exeter, Warwick, Macquarie and

Effective methods of controlling mosquito populations are needed to help lower the worldwide burden of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have described a new statistical framework that can be used to assess mosquito control programs over broad time and space scales. The mosquito Aedes aegypti