Current News
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Peter Ryan joined the Arctic Century Expedition to the Russian Arctiic to study the plastic pollution of the region, as well as document the region's birds and marine mammals.
The paper from Krista Oswald's PhD research, part-funded by the Fitztitute and co-supervised by Dr Susie Cunningham shows the impacts of high temperatures in the Cape Fold mountains on rockjumper chicks: the hotter it gets, the smaller they are.
A new study by researchers at UCT's FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology and Nelson Mandela University found that ships are a major source of plastic bottles littering South African beaches.The findings, just published in the journal Environmental Pollution, also show that some bottles drift across the Indian Ocean from countries in southeast Asia, especially Indonesia.
BirdLife SA are holding their Virtual African Bird Fair on Friday and Saturday, 30-31 July 2021. All you need to do to be part of this two-day FREE event, is to register. FitzPatrick staff and students will be presenting at 09h00 on Saturday July 31.
Orange-breasted sunbirds Anthobaphes violacea pollinate at least 67 Erica plant species in the Cape and recent research suggests that these sunbirds have contributed to creating the great diversity of flower colours we see today.
A new study by MSc student Michelle Vrettos suggests that falcons have natural ‘eye makeup’ to improve hunting ability. A paper from this study has been published in Biology Letters.
MSc student Farisayi Dakwa recently published a paper on the diet of two Vulnerable penguin species; Macaroni (Eudyptes chrysolophus) and Eastern Rockhopper (Eudyptes filholi) penguins that breed at sub-Antarctic Marion Island.
A new study by Anthony Lowney and Robert Thomson demonstrates the importance of sociable weaver colonies to the surrounding animal community was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13544
A new paper from the Fitz and the ANU describes how behavioural changes for thermoregulation carry opportunity costs with implications for fitness, population persistence and ecosystem function.
Crows are notorious for robbing eggs and chicks from other birds nests, especially where crow numbers have been boosted by human activity. However, research led by UCT student Angela Ferguson, indicates one way to stop the marauding crows.
Newly published research by an all-women team from the University of Cape Town (UCT) shows how one of the most ancient groups of birds (from the time of the dinosaurs) was able to detect minute mechanical vibrations in the soil using their beaks referred to as remote-touch.
The 2020 MSc Conservation Biology class finally got back into the field together after learning remotely since mid-March when they went on a 5-day trip to the Grootbos Environmental Centre in the heart of a thriving conservancy.