𝐆𝐫𝐫𝐥𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭, scientist & writer

Published in Dialogue & Discourse

·Jul 22

Goodbye Zazu: Climate Change Will Roast Desert Birds Into Extinction In Just Five Years

According to a recently published study, if extreme temperatures continue, the southern yellow-billed hornbill will become extinct in the hottest parts of its range by 2027 © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter As climate change intensifies, it is driving ever more extreme temperatures and longer, more frequent…

Climate Change

6 min read

Published in Dialogue & Discourse

·Jul 18

Parrots Climb Using Three Limbs, Thereby Violating The ‘Forbidden Phenotype’

Parrots are unique because they use their beak and legs when climbing, which makes them the only animal with three functional limbs © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Humans have had an extraordinarily long fascination with the triskelion motif, whose name is derived from the Greek and…

Evolution

6 min read

Parrots Climb Using Three Limbs, Thereby Violating The ‘Forbidden Phenotype’

Published in THOUGHTS

·Jun 30

This Floofy Sheepdog Reveals Its Doggie Ancestor From 200 Years Ago

DNA technology reveals that Patagonian sheepdogs are the closest living relative to now-extinct varieties of herding dogs of Victorian era Britain © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Looking rather like a sheep itself, the floofy Patagonian sheepdog is rare (only several hundred are alive today), and it…

Science

4 min read

This Floofy Sheepdog Reveals Its Doggie Ancestor From 200 Years Ago

Published in Dialogue & Discourse

·Jun 28

The Presence Of Absence: How Do We Know A Species Is Really Extinct?

When the only image available of your species is a painting, that’s a really big clue that the species is extinct © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter They were nomadic. Shy. They slipped quietly through the skies over seemingly endless tropical forests, their lives devoted to travelling…

Ornithology

9 min read

The Presence Of Absence: How Do We Know A Species Is Really Extinct?

Published in Gardening, Birding, and Outdoor Adventure

·Jun 27

Vegetarians Are More Sociable Than Carnivores — In Birds

Birds that eat seeds are more sociable than birds that eat insects — a trait that appears to influence social evolution in many animals © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter There are 118 species of weaverbirds (family: Ploceidae) and most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. These…

Science

5 min read

Vegetarians Are More Sociable Than Carnivores — In Birds

Published in Gardening, Birding, and Outdoor Adventure

·Jun 24

Darwin Was Right: Birds Really Are More Colorful In The Tropics

The long-held idea that birds living in the tropics are more colorful than those living closer to the poles is true, suggests a recent study © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter

Biogeography

6 min read

Darwin Was Right: Birds Really Are More Colorful In The Tropics

Published in Dialogue & Discourse

·Jun 10

What Was The First Bird To Be Domesticated?

Mostly everyone assumes that chickens were the first bird to be domesticated. But were they? © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter It is often argued that taming wildlife and keeping them in captivity was our most consequential accomplishment because these animals provided a steady and secure source…

Archaeology

5 min read

What Was The First Bird To Be Domesticated?

Published in Gardening, Birding, and Outdoor Adventure

·May 30

Inbreeding and Families: How To Save Australia’s Orange-Bellied Parrot

When just a few family lineages dominate the overall genetic diversity in small, endangered populations, these populations become highly inbred, making them vulnerable to catastrophes like disease outbreaks © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter When a family lineage produces no surviving descendants, its genetic diversity is lost…

Science

7 min read

Inbreeding and Families: How To Save Australia’s Orange-Bellied Parrot

Published in Gardening, Birding, and Outdoor Adventure

·May 30

First Ever Fossil Of An Owl That’s Active In Daytime Unearthed In China

An exquisitely preserved fossil skeleton of a long-extinct owl unearthed in the Tibetan Plateau reveals this species hunted by day, marking a dramatic shift in our understanding of owl evolution © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter A team of scientists based in China report they have found…

Paleontology

6 min read

First Ever Fossil Of An Owl That’s Active In Daytime Unearthed In China

Published in Dialogue & Discourse

·May 27

How Is Being Brainy Correlated To Longevity In Parrots?

Parrots apparently evolved larger brain sizes so they could solve problems that might otherwise have killed them, and their braininess ended up promoting their long-term survival © by GrrlScientist for Forbes | Twitter | Newsletter Why are parrots so long-lived? It’s an obvious question that is not well understood by…

Cognition

5 min read

How Is Being Brainy Correlated To Longevity In Parrots?