Temptation of mate can cause mama bird to abandon her chicks
February 5th, 2011 - 5:56 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Feb 5 (ANI): Research from the University of Cambridge has shown that a mother bird can take time away from parenting when more tempting opportunities such as finding a mate sprout up.
Hihi birds (Notiomystis cincta) from the forests of Tiritiri Matangi Island in New Zealand ignore the intensity of their nestlings’ begging displays when they have the chance to reproduce multiple times in a season, says the new study.
To test this, behavioural ecologist Rose Thorogood studied a population of Hihi birds.
“The sensitivity of parents to offspring’s signals in relation to their future reproductive attempts hasn’t really ever been explored before,” Live Science quoted Thorogood as saying.
She found that birds that laid only one clutch within a season were more responsive to chicks, while those who laid a second clutch were not sensitive to the intensity of nestlings’ begging displays, giving equal attention to all chicks.
“Parents aren’t just slaves to the offspring; they have some control over the situation. If the parents know they’ve got a good chance of breeding again in the future, they can’t be completely manipulated by the offspring,” Thorogood said.
The results may explain why individual parents of different species vary so much in their responses to begging, Thorogood added.
John Ewen, a co-author and behavioral ecologist from the Zoological Society of London, said “Our results may help explain some of the apparently conflicting results of previous studies by offering a reason for variable sensitivity of parent birds to the demands of their young.”
The study is published Jan. 25 in the journal the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. (ANI)
- Hungry chicks have unique calls for getting parents' attention - Jan 26, 2011
- Parents who devote less time to offspring more prone to homosexuality - Jul 10, 2010
- Frightened birds' wings grow faster and longer - Mar 26, 2011
- Abused chicks likely to grow into bullies - Aug 10, 2011
- Mums teach kids lessons of life - even before birth - Mar 12, 2010
- Birds 'feed UV-reflective nestlings over UV-blocked ones' - Apr 10, 2011
- Exposure to mercury pollution causes homosexuality in birds - Dec 01, 2010
- Visual stimulation from attractive males positively affects brooding females - Jun 25, 2010
- Victimized baby birds grow into abusers themselves - Oct 04, 2011
- 'Selfless' fairy wrens are in fact carefully calculating accountants - Mar 19, 2011
- Ogling at 'sexy' males leads to healthier chicks: Study - Jun 30, 2010
- Brooding female birds respond to vivid male plumes - Jun 25, 2010
- Do hormones dictate breeding success in birds? - Jan 27, 2011
- Why female birds seek extra mates - May 01, 2009
- Like-minded partners 'make better parents' - Jan 28, 2011
Tags: behavioral ecologist, clutch, co author, ewen, good chance, live science, mama bird, mother bird, multiple times, nestlings, offspring, parent birds, proceedings of the royal society, proceedings of the royal society b, proceedings of the royal society b biological sciences, royal society b biological sciences, tiritiri matangi island, university of cambridge, variable sensitivity, zoological society of london