William Feeney receives funding from Australian Geographic and the Australian National University. Species must reproduce to survive, and animals have found unique ways of achieving this. For some, ...

The zebra finch is a sought-after pet bird prized for its beauty, antics, and interactive nature. Reaching only four inches in height, these tiny birds are easy to house and care for. Zebra finches ...

Some female zebra finches foist a part of their eggs on their neighbours. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen discovered that in every fifth nest there is one egg that ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract 1. Opportunistic breeding (i.e. breeding whenever favourable conditions occur, regardless of interval or periodicity) is a strategy often ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American During my PhD I worked with zebra finches, a ...

When building a nest, previous experience raising chicks will influence the choices birds make, according to a new study by University of Alberta scientists. The results show that birds that have ...

In zebra finches, sperm velocity and morphology and hence reproductive success strongly depend on a specific mutation (an inversion) on one of the sex chromosomes, called Z. This gene inversion gives ...

A new study suggests that some birds prioritize social information over visual evidence when making breeding choices. A new study in The Auk: Ornithological Advances suggests that some birds ...