Fluorescence is emitted by diverse living organisms. The analysis and interpretation of these signals may give information about their physiological state, ways of communication among species and the presence of specific chemicals. In this manuscript we review the state of the art in the research on the fluorescence emitted by plant leaves, fruits, flowers, avians, butterflies, beetles, dragonf...

Arabian babblers are highly preyed upon avians living in the Israeli desert. The survival of this species is contingent upon successful predator deterrence known as mobbing. Their ability to successfully defend against larger predators is the inspiration for this research with the goal of employing new models of robotic deception. Using Grafen's Dishonesty Model [3], simulation results are pres...

Mechanisms of same/different concept learning by rhesus monkeys, capuchin monkeys, and pigeons were studied in terms of how these species learned the task (e.g., item-specific learning versus relational learning) and how rapidly they learned the abstract concept, as the training set size was doubled. They had similar displays, training stimuli, test stimuli, and contingencies. The monkey specie...

The sternum bone lies at the ventral midline of the thorax where it provides a critical attachment for the pectoral muscles that allow the forelimbs to raise the body from the ground. Among tetrapods, sternum morphology is correlated with the mode of locomotion: Avians that fly have a ventral extension, or keel, on their sterna, which provides an increased area for flight muscle attachment. The...

At present, three different systems of anatomical nomenclature are available to researchers describing new tetrapod taxa: a nonstandardized traditional system erected in part by Sir Richard Owen and subsequently elaborated by Alfred Romer; a standardized system created for avians, the Nomina Anatomica Avium (NAA); and a standardized system for extant (crown-group) mammals, the Nomina Anatomica ...

Birds are powerful indicator of an ecosystem because of their thin skull, feathers as dielectric receptor, high mobility and use of areas having high electromagnetic field. Among the total publications on the impact of electromagnetic radiation on living beings, only 3% are on birds. Both positive and negative results are reported regarding the biological responses of birds exposed to electroma...

Neural crest cells, which generate peripheral nervous system and facial skeleton, arise at the neural plate/ectodermal border via an inductive interaction between these tissues. Wnts and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play roles in neural crest induction in amphibians and zebrafish. Here, we show that, in avians, Wnt6 is localized in ectoderm and in vivo inhibition of Wnt signaling perturbs...