2020.02.04

Winged Victory

"The discovery of a strange chromosome in songbirds might explain their astonishing diversity"

Songbird species found to have the extra chromosome include the Gouldian finch (first row, left), Blyth's reed warbler (first row, middle), Eurasian skylark (first row, right), Eurasian bullfinch (second row, left), rook (second row, middle), European siskin (second row, right), common canary (third row, left), pine bunting (third row, middle) and barn swallow (third row, right). Cyril Laubscher Getty Images (first row, left); Oleg Minitskiy Getty Images (first row, middle​​​​​​​); Les Stocker Getty Images (first row, right​​​​​​​); Reinhard Holzl Getty Images (second row, left); Kim Taylor Getty Images (second row, middle​​​​​​​); Alamy (second row, right); Fernando Sanchez de Castro Getty Images (third row, left​​​​​​​); Hanne and Jens Eriksen Nature Picture Library (third row, middle); DP Wildlife Vertebrates Alamy (third row, right)

Songbird species found to have the extra chromosome include the Gouldian finch (first row, left), Blyth's reed warbler (first row, middle), Eurasian skylark (first row, right), Eurasian bullfinch (second row, left), rook (second row, middle), European siskin (second row, right), common canary (third row, left), pine bunting (third row, middle) and barn swallow (third row, right). Cyril Laubscher Getty Images (first row, left); Oleg Minitskiy Getty Images (first row, middle​​​​​​​); Les Stocker Getty Images (first row, right​​​​​​​); Reinhard Holzl Getty Images (second row, left); Kim Taylor Getty Images (second row, middle​​​​​​​); Alamy (second row, right); Fernando Sanchez de Castro Getty Images (third row, left​​​​​​​); Hanne and Jens Eriksen Nature Picture Library (third row, middle); DP Wildlife Vertebrates Alamy (third row, right)

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