Science News For Student
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The black crested Titmouse was caught plucking the feathers of a sleeping fox.
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Nationalgeographic.co.id—A number of bird Little ones called titmice take big risks to brave the hair of other animals to build their nests. They attack cats, They land on the backs of sleeping predators and They even pluck strands of hair straight from people’s heads. Now, the term for this unusual behavior is: kleptotrichy.
The word “kleptotrichy” comes from the Greek words for “steal” and “hair.” This behavior is rarely explained by scientists. But dozens of YouTube videos capture bird in action, researchers report July 27 in Ecology. Titmice—and one chickadee—have been recorded on video pulling hair from dogs, cats, humans, raccoons and even porcupines.
“Observer bird, and people who keep dogs know more about this behavior than scientists themselves,” said Mark Hauber. He is an animal behavior expert at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Popular observation precedes science rather than the other way around, which is a valid way to do science,” Hauber added.
Witnessing hair theft in the wild inspired Henry Pollock to dig a little deeper. Pollock is an ecologist, also at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In March 2020, Pollock and his colleagues were counting bird in Illinois state park. During the count, they noticed something unusual: a tufted titmouse plucking fur from a sleeping raccoon. “I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said.
Pollock, Hauber and their colleagues wondered if other scientists had seen similar behavior. In South America, bird called palm swifts snatch feathers from flying pigeons and bird parrot. That behavior is called kleptoptily.
Also Read: Why Carcasses Do Not Have Stomach Pain After Eating Carcasses
JJ Harrison
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Yellow-throated honeyeater (Lichenostomus flavicollis) steals hair from the Tasmanian Pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) for nesting material, Melaleuca, Southwest Conservation Area, Tasmania, Australia.
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However, the team found only 11 scientific descriptions of birds stealing hair from living mammals. Most observers involve titmice in North America. At least five other bird species also got into action. Researchers have seen an American crow harvest hair from a cow. A red-winged starling in South Africa has been seen pecking at a small antelope called a klipspringer. In Australia, three species of honeyeaters steal feathers from koalas.
Meanwhile, a YouTube search by the team found 99 videos of birds plucking feathers from mammals. The tufted titmice is the most common hair thief. However, a mountain chickadee and a black-crested titmouse were also caught on video stealing mammal hair. Scientists had not previously described the two hair-stealing bird species.
Also Read: Why do some female hummingbirds disguise themselves as males?
SASIMOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Birds collect hair for their nests in a low-risk manner. However, there are some birds taking greater risks for hair.
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Scientists generally assume that birds collect hair for their nests in a low-risk manner. For example, they may pull feathers from carcasses or collect wild feathers that are shed in the wind. It is surprising to learn that some birds take greater risks for hair.
“Removing feathers from a raccoon, which is a common bird’s nest predator, shows that it’s definitely worth the risk to get the feathers,” Pollock said.
Hair-harvesting bird species tend to live in colder climates. So the birds might appreciate the hair’s insulating properties to keep warm, the team said. Some birds may also groom their nests with mammalian feathers to confuse would-be predators and parasites.
Also Read: Birds and Mammals Are More Likely to Survive Climate Change
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