Some Wasps Leave Their Young's Security to Parasites
	It's not often that you see a parent leaving their children in the company of an intruder and hoping they'll be OK, albeit a species of potter wasps known as Allodynerus delphinalis does it anyway. Not only that, but the Ensliniella parasitica, a parasitic mite living in the nest of this particular species of wasps, does a pretty good job as well, chasing away or even killing invaders several times bigger than it, such as parasit ... [read more >>]
	07 July 2008, 09:38GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

6 Things about Cuckoos and Roadrunners
	1. Cuckoos are classified as belonging to their own order of birds, not closely related to other living birds. Only the weird hoatzin bird of the Amazon is distantly related to cuckoos. Cuckoos are most famous for their habit of brood parasitism. Only 2 out of 5 families of cuckoos comprise species that are brood parasites: Cuculidae (of which only 3 genera are not nest parasites) and 3 genera of the American family Neomorphidae (comprisin ... [read more >>]
	15 May 2008, 07:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Nest Parasitism: Cuckoos Really Do Imitate Hawks
	Two thousands years ago, Plutarch said that the cuckoo was transforming into a hawk. You just have to look at a cuckoo and a sparrowhawk side by side, and you will positively be smitten by the resemblance between the two in terms of plumage, size and posture. Of course, cuckoos have nothing to do with raptors, but they mimic the sparrowhawk in the color of their pale, barred bellies, and breasts. Cuckoos seem to have developed this dis ... [read more >>]
	15 May 2008, 04:17GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

5 Things about Flamingos
	1. Flamingos are gorgeous birds that might have inspired the legend of the Phoenix Bird because of their bright plumage. They are distantly related to herons and pelicans. Today, only five species classified in one single family survive. Five fossil families of flamingos are known, that comprised birds of various sizes. Amongst the fossil genera are Elornis and Tilornis. The existence of the modern genus Phoenicopterus is known from[AD ... [read more >>]
	09 May 2008, 15:46GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

9 Things About Hornbills
	1. Hornbills are famous for their huge bills, flattened and curved, with toothed edges and bony helmets over the upper jaw. These large birds have a common origin with the hoopoes. Today, hornbills inhabit only tropical Africa and Asia, but the oldest known species, the Geiseloceros robustus, lived in Saxony (northern Germany) in Eocene, 45-50 Ma ago. 35-40 Ma ago, Cryptornis antiquus lived in the Paris area. 2. The largest hornbills ... [read more >>]
	08 May 2008, 10:00GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Birds of the Cities
	The emergence of the human settlements during the Neolithic, 10,000 years ago, created a new biotope. In the new environment, not only domestic animals started to flourish, but also wild fauna that began to depend on human villages – and later cities – for shelter, food, and even security. And not all are useful. For example, house mice and rats rely on food provided by people, from food stores to wastes. Perhaps the largest ... [read more >>]
	15 April 2008, 10:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Most Delicious Nest
	Swifts are amongst the fastest birds, and even if they resemble swallows, they are in fact related to hummingbirds. A swift weighs a few tens of grams, but with its sickle shaped wings they can reach 160 km (100 mi) per hour. Swifts are the birds the term aerial suits best as they catch food (insects), eat, drink, collect material for the nest and even mate (this is unique amongst all birds) while in the air! They can even sleep during ... [read more >>]
	01 December 2007, 07:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

You Did Not Know All That About Hedgehogs
	The oldest ancestor of the hedgehogs could be an 80 million years old mammal found in Mongolia (which lived during the dinosaur era). The oldest known hedgehogs lived in Europe, 45 million years ago. In Africa, the oldest hedgehogs remains are 30 million years old. 10 million years ago, there were hedgehogs in North America; today there are no hedgehogs there. The modern genera are 15 million years old, and during the Ice Age made southwar ... [read more >>]
	15 November 2007, 17:18GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Top 10 Weirdest Chinese Foods
	Did you know that Westerners are some kind of barbarians in the eyes of a Chinese? Because how the heck can you eat fermented milk emulsion (read cheese), which stinks worse than a skunk? Of course, for them, it’s very tasty to eat rats, dogs, cats. A Chinese folk speech says more or less that they can eat everything that has four legs, except tables; everything that flies, except for airplanes; and everything that is found on water, excep ... [read more >>]
	20 August 2007, 16:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

A Busted Myth: Conjugal Fidelity or Nest-Site Fidelity?
	We tend to humanize animals, to believe they might have human feelings. We even dare to use words like "love" and "monogamous relationship" when we analyze many species. But appearances can be very deceiving. A classical example is the white stork. In the European mythology, the 'stork' is responsible for bringing babies to new parents. This legend probably came out because white storks have the ... [read more >>]
	08 August 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia