Tag Archive | "Feather Identification Lab"

Fossil feathers from a Hawaiian cave help reveal lineage of extinct, flightless ibis

Fossil feathers from a Hawaiian cave help reveal lineage of extinct, flightless ibis

Ornithologists Carla Dove and Storrs Olson used 700- to 1,100-year-old feathers from a long extinct species of Hawaiian ibis to help determine the bird’s place in the ibis family tree. The feathers are the only known plumage of any of the prehistorically extinct birds that once inhabited the Hawaiian Islands. [...more]

paleontology, zoology Comments (0)

Invasive Burmese pythons are taking a toll on Florida’s native birds

Invasive Burmese pythons are taking a toll on Florida’s native birds

As researchers investigate the impact of the Burmese python in the Everglades, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, South Florida Natural Resources Center and the University of Florida examined the snake’s predation of the area’s birds. They found that birds, including endangered species, accounted for 25 percent of the python’s diet in the Everglades. [...more]

Featured, conservation biology, zoology Comments (4)

Turkey’s trip to table: Domesticating North America’s largest fowl

Turkey’s trip to table: Domesticating North America’s largest fowl

The turkey has become synonymous with Thanksgiving in the United States. But when exactly where turkeys first domesticated? And where? Bruce Smith, senior archeologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has the answers. [...more]

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Meet Our Scientist: Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove explains bird-strike science

Meet Our Scientist: Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove explains bird-strike science

When birds and planes collide: Carla Dove, a forensic ornithologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, talks about the work of the Smithsonian's Feather Identification Lab and its role in improving aviation safety. [...more]

Meet Our Scientists, Video Comments (1)

Scientists Determine Geese Involved in Hudson River Plane Crash Were Migratory

Scientists Determine Geese Involved in Hudson River Plane Crash Were Migratory

Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution examined the feather remains from the Jan. 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 bird strike to determine not only the species, but also that the Canada geese involved were from a migratory, rather than resident, population. This knowledge is essential for wildlife professionals to develop policies and techniques that will reduce the risk of future collisions. The team’s findings were published in the journal “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment” in June. [...more]

conservation biology Comments (1)

Smithsonian Scientists Determine Geese in Hudson River Plane Crash Were Migratory

Smithsonian Scientists Determine Geese in Hudson River Plane Crash Were Migratory

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Science Spotlight

This fossil represents a new genus and species of extinct aneuretopsychid, Jeholopsyche liaoningensis, recently described in a paper in the journal ZooKeys by Conrad Labandeira of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and Dong Ren and ChungKun Shih of the College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing. The aneuretopsychidae are a family of long-proboscid insects that lived in Asia from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. The paper documents the first formal record of fossil Aneuretopsychidae in China. The new fossils reveal previously unknown and detailed structure of the mouthparts, antennae, head, thorax, legs and abdomen of this distinctive insect lineage.

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