The ruff has one of the weirdest sexual systems in the world – all thanks to a large piece of chromosome that was flipped over 3.8 million years ago. A type of wading sandpiper, ruffs are named after ...

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In the colorful world of avian courtship, the ruff (Calidris pugnax) is in a league of its own. Breeding in marshes and wet meadows across Eurasia, the males of this medium-sized sandpiper species are ...

Keepers at Torquay’s coastal zoo are preparing the ground for some fierce competition. They are cutting the grass and clearing undergrowth so that one species of bird can indulge in its extraordinary ...

This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The ...

This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The ...

Biologists have discovered the group of genes responsible for ruffs, a type of sandpiper, having four different genders, including a male that looks like a female and tricks females into mating. David ...

With three distinct types of males, the ruff (Philomachus pugnax) is a strange bird indeed. Now, in a pair of independent papers published Monday in Nature Genetics, scientists have pinpointed the ...

Our author spots four of these striking birds as they pause their migration at the Somerset Levels Sporting the splendid feathery collars that give the ruff its name, they reminded me of the foppish, ...

Studies of a distinctive wading bird have identified a genetic quirk which gives rise to three types of male bird within the same species, according to researchers. Scientists at the University of ...