bird

Peckers Get Smaller Where It Gets Colder

Ada McVean M.Sc. — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 11:00:00 +0000

Charles Darwin postulated that Toucan’s massive beaks might be for sexual selection purposes. Other scientists have theorized that it could be for shows of intimidation, for actual defense or for peeling fruit. Given the beak’s serrated edge, it was once thought that toucans used it to catch and eat fish. We now know that toucans are almost entirely fructivorous, although they do opportunistically eat insects, lizards, and even small birds.

The pitohui bird contains deadly batrachotoxin

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:00:00 +0000

Did you know that the pitohui ("pit-oo-eey,") bird of New Guinea is the only bird known to contain a toxin?

Pitohui

OSS — Sat, 20 May 2017 22:46:44 +0000

The Pitohui of New Guinea is the only known bird that produces a poison. Its feathers contain batrachotoxin, a nerve toxin also found in South American poison dart frogs. The Pitohui rubs its eggs with its feathers, protecting them from predators.

Can "Kombucha tea" prevent the flu?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 04:41:38 +0000

While some people are looking to stockpile Tamiflu in case the bird flu strikes, a few others are placing their bets on a foul concoction with a folkloric history of curing everything from AIDS and baldness to flatulence and cancer. Kombucha tea is brewed by incubating a culture of bacteria and yeasts in sweetened black or green tea. The microbial culture, which is passed from believer to believer, ends up floating on top of the tea and resembles a mushroom, which is why sometimes the concoction is referred to as the Kombucha mushroom.