Foul Mouth Myna Bird At China Zoo Swears At Tourists

A tough talking myna bird has been put into isolation by zookeepers for hurling swear words at visitors. It looks to be the fault of zoo patrons who taught the bird some very inappropriate language.

An article in The Indian Express writes that myna birds, officially known as Gracula religiosia, are linguistic marvels. Hailing from the hill regions of South and Southeast Asia, the creatures have the stunning talent to accurately mimic the speech and singing of humans.

According to AOL, a Jiufeng Forest zookeeper heard one of the mynas utter an expletive in the presence of zoo patrons. Li Yun , who works as a caretaker at the exhibit, was surprised by the outburst. However, he had previously witnessed other tourists attempting to teach foul words to the mimicking birds.

The Daily Mail reports that the zoo has taken steps to prevent the other exhibit mynas from mimicking the swearing bird. The offending bird has been put into isolation where it is being retrained. Zookeepers plan to have the bird listen to a series of polite words on tape and will withhold food when a curse word is uttered.

Tell us what you think of China’s foul mouthed myna bird.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/444494/foul-mouth-myna-bird-at-china-zoo-swears-at-tourists/#KGshp3EH7SHtX3cM.99 

‘Bird mimic’ dinosaur hints that wings evolved for show not flight

In 1890, the fossil-hunter Othniel Charles Marsh described a new species of dinosaur from Colorado. He only had a foot and part of a hand to go on, but they were so bird-like that Marsh called the beast Ornithomimus – the bird mimic. As the rest of Ornithomimus’ skeleton was later discovered, Marsh’s description seemed more and more apt. It ran on two legs, and had a beaked, toothless mouth. Despite the long tail and grasping arms, it vaguely resembled an ostrich, and it lent its name to an entire family – the ornithomimids—which are colloquially known as “ostrich dinosaurs”.

Now, the bird mimic has become even more bird-like. By analysing two new specimens, and poring over an old famous one, Darla Zelenitsky from the University of Calgary has found evidence that Ornithomimus had feathers. And not just simple filaments, but wings – fans of long feathers splaying from the arms of adults. (More technically, it had “pennibrachia” – a word for wing-like arms that couldn’t be used to glide or fly.)

The two new specimens were found in 2008 and 2009 by Frank Hadfield, a local businessman from Drumheller, Alberta. He sent them to the local Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, where Zelenitsky examined them. One is a juvenile, around one year old, with a dense coat of short hollow filaments on its trunk and limbs. The second is an adult that’s missing its arms; it too had the same filaments on its neck, back and upper body.

Each filament measures up to 5 centimetres long and half a centimetre wide. These represent the earliest stage of feather evolution—they’re known as proto-feathers or, more evocatively, dino-fuzz.

Continued:  http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/10/25/%E2%80%98bird-mimic%E2%80%99-dinosaur-hints-that-wings-evolved-for-show-not-flight/