Thaindian News

Washington, Oct 4 (IANS) Those who are abused as children often grow into abusers themselves, which is quite true of humans — but new research shows that this practice is not uncommon among birds too.

“We were surprised by the intense interest that many adults show in unrelated young, involving really rough treatment,” said professor of biology at the Wake Forest University Dave Anderson, who led the study with graduate student Martina Müller.

In Nazca boobies, a bird species, traumatic abuse of chicks significantly increases the chances of their acting the same way as adults, Müller said. She is now at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the journal The Auk, specializing in birds, reports.

The abusive adults frequently bite and peck unguarded chicks, and even make sexual advances, sometimes leaving them bleeding and stressed. Female adults show more aggressive behaviour than males do, according to a Wake Forest statement.

“It’s fascinating that what many would consider an extremely complex human phenomenon is also occurring - perhaps through the same physiological mechanism - in Nazca boobies, which are more closely related to crocodiles than mammals,” added study co-author Jacquelyn K. Grace.

Seabirds Nazca boobies, which inhabit the Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, raise solitary nestlings on the ground, leaving them unattended to forage. So adult birds seize this opportunity to bully and beat them up.

“This is not some contrived experimental situation with freaked out captive animals. This is an animal in a natural situation experiencing natural stressors when young,” said Anderson.