Entries Tagged 'Nature' ↓

I think the title says it all.

Here is a video of a windmill being broken by storm in Hornslet, Denmark:

Neurophilosophy has posted an article and video regarding tool-use in wild crows being caught on video for the first time.

An excerpt from the article and the video:

For example, one of the crows observed in the study used at least 3 different tools while foraging for food in loose substrate on the ground. The tool was transported from one site to another, and discarded briefly while the crow used its beak. Use of the tool was then resumed.

This film shows the crows making tools from what appears to a dry, grass-like stem. Prior to this study, crows had never been seen using this material for tool-making.

This video is pretty phenomenal in what it is exhibiting. I imagine we will begin seeing proof of many other animals’ tool-use, along with other heretofore unknown habits.

An article at National Geographic points to some new research out of Germany that shows that birds can see Earth’s Magnetic Field in their regular vision. This would help enable migratory birds to find their position, and eventually home, in relation to their surroundings.

Scientists already suspected birds’ eyes contain molecules that are thought to sense Earth’s magnetic field. In a new study, German researchers found that these molecules are linked to an area of the brain known to process visual information.

In that sense, “birds may see the magnetic field,” said study lead author Dominik Heyers, a biologist at the University of Oldenburg.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are subtle, but noticeable differences in the Earth’s magnetic fields that would be perceptible to the birds that would give them a series of “landmarks” that would allow them to know where they are. Subtle forms of pattern recognition seem to have helped almost every species along its path. I think we’re just beginning to see the full potential of the natural world.