2019-09-30 - Researchers at the University of Illinois have shown through a multi-year study that cowbirds (Molothrus ater) conform to Bateman’s Principle, which holds that reproductive success is greater in males than in females when they have more mates. Cowbirds are distinct from 99% of other bird species in that they are brood parasites and lay their eggs in nests of birds of other species for...

2019-07-24 - Just as humans are usually left- or right-handed, other species sometimes prefer one appendage, or eye, over the other. A new study reveals that American robins that preferentially use one eye significantly more than the other when looking at their own clutch of eggs are also more likely to detect, and reject, a foreign egg placed in their nest by another bird species – or by a devious scientist.

2019-06-27 - A Bruker 9.4 Tesla preclinical animal MRI system will be sited at the Beckman Institute. The addition of the system to the institute’s Biomedical Imaging Center will aid in research in many areas, including brain development and function, and cellular mechanisms in cancer. The installation project will begin this fall and is expected to take a year.

2019-05-01 - Mark Hauber broadens our understanding of the avian world

2019-05-01 -  

2019-04-17 - Like other vipers, puff adder skulls have hinged jaws that deploy the fangs when the animal opens its mouth to strike.

2019-02-12 - Animal biology professor Christina Cheng and her colleagues determined how the gene for an antifreeze protein in Arctic fish evolved from noncoding DNA.

2018-12-12 - The mandibles of the Dracula ant, Mystrium camillae, are the fastest known moving animal appendages, snapping shut at speeds of up to 90 meters per second.

2018-11-28 - The spines of Cylindropuntia fulgida, also known as jumping cholla, have a reproductive role. They latch on to passersby and carry small chunks of cactus flesh to new locations.

2018-10-25 - Professor Mark Hauber receives a $270,000 grant to collaborate with Tel Aviv University researchers on how invasive birds succeed in new habitats.

2018-08-28 - Postdoctoral researcher Mikus Abolins-Abols peers into the nest of an American robin.

2018-08-27 - Pointiness pays off for the eggs of cliff-dwelling birds, a new study reveals.

2018-08-27 - A new study of orangethroat darters reveals that the males’ ability to recognize their own and other species drives the evolution of their bright display colors.

2018-07-17 - A new animal biology study of stickleback fish by Illinois animal biologist Alison Bell (left) and former Illinois doctoral student Laura Stein (right) shows that individuals show the same molecular and developmental responses to their own versus their parent’s exposure to predators

2017-11-27 - Animal biology professor Carla Caceres is a new Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science