Category: Animals

Here’s a new report on the Citizen Science Maker Summit, hosted by Arizona State University and SciStarter in October, 2016. The report, “ASU / SciStarter Citizen Science Maker Summit: Learning Outcomes and Next Steps” [ http://links.asu.edu/ASUCitizenScienceMakerSummitReport ] highlights activities from the Summit, provides links to speakers’ recorded talks [also posted to the http://makersummit.asu.edu website ], […]

Songbirds may be nature’s pop stars, but the females are still waiting for a turn in the spotlight. Participants in the Female Bird Song Project are looking to right this imbalance.

A young sea turtle named Grace was found floating cold and listless next to a dock in South Carolina. She was rescued and then sent the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center™ where she required surgery to remove a piece of plastic about the size of a silver dollar from her intestinal tract.

I used to think of birds as delicate creatures, airy and carefree, with pretty feathers and pretty songs. Then I saw the film “Winged Migration” and came to understand just how gritty and daring these lovely creatures really are. The film uses bird’s-eye footage to document the treacherous treks birds across the globe make each […]

By Katherine Leviste Next Thursday, T.V. viewers across the country will watch Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers,  Portuguese Water Dogs, and other purebreds trot around the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in a Thanksgiving tradition that ranks right up there with parades and football: the National Dog Show. As the dogs sit, stand, and jog, licensed […]

Wild animals get sick from parasites, fungi, and other causes just like people and pets do, but they don’t usually have doctors to help them get better. Instead, you can help them with citizen science! Below, we highlight five projects that study wildlife diseases. Find more projects on SciStarter to do now, or bookmark your […]

Join Jojo and her family counting bats as citizen scientists in the soon-to-be-released book Bat Count: A Citizen Science Story! You can read — and listen to — a free digital review copy today.  The story, written  by Philadelphia-area author Anna Forrester and illustrated by Susan Detwiler, encourages kids to get involved in citizen science and make it their […]

I grew up in Fishtown, Philadelphia, an inner city grid of red-brick row homes, corner bars, candy shops, and barely-breathing factories. Fishtown was not known for its wildlife. There were birds. A wide variety, if two counts as a wide variety: big birds (pigeons) and small birds (sparrows). There were cats and an occasional dog […]

January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Celebrate by participating in one of these squirrel-centric projects. It sounds a little nutty, but researchers rely on your squirrel observations to advance research about these furry friends.  Find more projects on SciStarter to do now, or bookmark your favorites for later! Cheers! The SciStarter Team Photo: USFWS Project […]

Why did the turtle cross the road? Change the “why” to a “where,” and conservation biologist Andrew Badje just might be able to tell you. Through his work with the Wisconsin Turtle Conservation Program, Badje collects turtle road crossing data to help map populations, especially at precarious road and rail crossings.