Last month, we explored whether birds have a keen sense of smell (https://www.earthgardeners.it/en/2025/01/30/do-birds-have-good-noses/), and contrary to popular belief, we concluded they do. The racing pigeon, a domestic breed refined over centuries for its strong attachment to its home, provides a fascinating example. When transported far from its dovecote and released, […]
N. Emilio Baldaccini
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Many generations of zoologists, like mine, have been educated on texts of Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates that reported reduced olfactory abilities for birds. They were considered microsmatic, a species in which the sense of smell had a small role in their behaviour, including searching for food. But that is not […]
To guide their migratory movements or return to a known destination, animals possess a series of compass mechanisms based on the vision of the sun, the stars, or the perception of the Earth’s magnetic field. Depending on their availability, they often help themselves in succession with more than one of […]
The bird pecten oculi is an intraocular anatomical structure that has resisted 350 years of investigation into its function, generating something like thirty different hypotheses, without any of them being completely accepted and considered exhaustive. And the mystery continues… Image 1 gives us a schematic view of the eyeball of […]
In birds, fertilization is an action of… tightrope walkers: the female, after a suitable period of courtship, decides to stop by crouching on the ground, lets the male climb on her back, waddling in precarious balance until in an instant, having achieved the necessary coordination, the two bring their cloacal […]