login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
When Dominant Crows Are Injured, Lazy Ones Pitch in to Help
Carrion crows (Corvus corone) form stable groups that share the responsibilities of breeding and caring for the young.
Dominant breeders rely on helpers to feed chicks, but they also tolerate individuals that don't seem to help at all.
Puzzled about the reasons for this leniency, scientists have suggested that dominants may indirectly benefit from the survival and future reproduction of lazy relatives, and that larger groups even those filled with dallying birds - may have a lower risk of predation or be more efficient at foraging.
Now, evolutionary biologist Vittorio Baglione at the University of Valladolid in Palencia, Spain, and colleagues have revealed an unexpected role for the laziest members of the group.
The research team used camouflaged video cameras to collect data on how often 61 wild crows from 17 social groups in northern Spain fed chicks.
They recorded for 12 hours across three days, then trapped and clipped the wings of one breeding bird from each group and repeated the data collection.
When clipped crows reduced their chick feeding by about 30pct, only non-breeders intensified their care-giving efforts. What's more, the laziest birds increased their helping behaviour the most.
|
|
|
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
|
|
- News Quick Links
| News Categories: |
| » | Research: Bright Colored Chips can Cut Consumption by Half |
| » | Olympic Athlete's Body Via the 80-10-10 Raw Vegan Diet |
| » | Importance of Canned Foods To Help Tackle IOM Weight Of The Nation Recommendations, Highlights Study |
| » | US Rules Pomegranate Juice Claims Deceptive |
| » | Reducing Entrée Size Could Increase Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Children |
| More Diet News | |
|
