[ad_1]
Do not judge a book – or a bird – at its cover: the shrikes, songbirds of delicate appearance, are famous for having impaled their prey.
But how do these medium-flying flies target up to 200% of their body weight?
New research, reported by AFP, suggests that carnivorous killers use powerful beak and jaw movements to shake their victims to death.
"We already knew they could kill animals that were surprisingly big for their size, but we did not know exactly how they were doing it," lead author Diego Sustaita told the news agency.
Gray, brown or black and white feathered creatures, up to 20 inches tall, have a hooked beak.
While the shrikes hit their raptor noses in the head or neck of unsuspecting meals, the absence of large raptor heels complicates the task.
Instead, they violently shake the lives of the animals using the weight of the victim.
"The manner in which shrikes shake their prey is likely to be important in immobilizing and killing the prey because prey body accelerations around its neck result in forces likely to break or fall apart. damaging the neck, "said Sustaita. .
Through high-speed videography, scientists were able to observe that when they seized prey with their beaks, shrikes made "rapid axial movements of the head" at approximately 6 g.
Their study, published this week in the journal Acts of the Royal Society, presented images of attacks by 37 shrikes on domestic black mice and other creatures.
In 75% of cases, the team witnessed prey behavior.
"The speed at which the shrikes shake their heads was surprising," according to Sustaita, "especially with relatively large animals in their jaws."
At least, it helps to explain how such a small and seemingly innocent bird is able to turn into Vlad the Impaler – even without all the necessary material.
"You would not expect a robot, for example, to have the strength to kill a mouse," Sustaita said. "And they do not do it.
"This particular behavior relies more on speed to generate accelerations to take advantage of the body weight of the prey, so it may not need as much force as it seems."
Do not underestimate the intelligence of birds: their brain is made up of more neurons than mammals. Yet, we slowly kill our feathered friends with urban noise. Learn more about animals here.
Let us know what you like about Geek by taking our survey.
[ad_2]
Source link
