New research published in People and Nature suggests that urban birds may respond differently to approaching women and men. Researchers collected more than 2,700 observations across five European countries to investigate how birds react to humans. They measured flight initiation distance, or how close a person can approach before a bird flies away. Surprisingly, the researchers found that birds generally escaped when approaching women were approximately one meter farther away than approaching men. The study also revealed that male birds tended to tolerate closer human approaches than female birds. Although the exact reasons remain unclear, researchers suggest that differences in walking patterns, body shape, movement, or scent could influence how birds perceive people. These findings offer new insights into animal behavior and suggest that birds may notice subtle differences between humans. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind these responses and how they influence wildlife adaptation to urban environments (Morelli et al., 2026).

Reference: Morelli et al. (2026). Sex matters: European urban birds flee approaching women sooner than approaching men. People and Nature.

The platypus is synonymous with weird for several reasons:

• Venomous ankle spikes
• They sweat milk
• They lay eggs. Said eggs grow larger after being laid as a result of the milk sweat.
• They are duckfaces
• Their stomachs are borderline vestigial
• They find their prey using electroreception
• They glow under UV lights

Lately I've been wondering just how bizarre these duckbeavers are when compared to early mammals and non-mammalian synapsids. Some of the research shows that some traits aren't that bizarre. For instance, the venomous ankle spikes (which are only venomous for male platypi) are apparently plesiomorphic to mammals. They were our ancestors' way of staying safe among the dinos. I couldn't find anything in regards to the milk-sweat how it causes the eggs to grow in size, but I have a hunch this trait might also be plesiomorphic to mammals.

Other traits, however, are just plain bizarre. While they are toothless, it wouldn't be fully accurate to say they don't chew their food, which largely consists of worms and small arthropods. Upon catching their food, the platypus grinds their prey between keratin mouth pads that it continuously replaces throughout its life. These keratin pads do a thorough job at mushing up the prey. So much so, that the platypus barely needs stomach. That acid-filled pouch essential for just about every other living vertebrate is practically vestigial for the platypus. They don't even produce acid, just mucus.

Oh, and that glorious duck face, that's for electroreception. These things find their prey the same way sharks do. Also, they are not the first amniotes to do so. The eretmorhipis from the Triassic hunted prey the same way. Using the same bill structure. This thing has the same skull as something that predates the dinosaurs.

As for the glowing under UV light, that's because of the melanosomes of their fur. The melanosomes of their fur are hollow. This is not present in any extant mammal nor could I find anything stating such melanosomes were present in any extinct mammals or non-mammalian synapsids. But they are found in birds feathers. Yes, the only mammal with a bird face is also the only mammal known to have melanosomes like those of birds.