Divorce in birds

It is a finding that deepens the understanding of animal social ties. It has been demonstrated in common coal behaviors. They exhibit behaviors that indicate divorce before the reproductive season. This is how divorce in birds works.

The findings are in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. They provide valuable information about how animals manage complex social decisions. It happens with the monogamous birds that are only linked to one couple at the same time: the choice of couple has a crucial influence on reproductive success.

Broken links

Finding the first divorce clues would be very difficult to explore for most bird populations. But there is already the common coal project of Wytham Woods, one of the most studied wild birds in the world. He has more than 75 years of experience.

The data showed that the first divorce signs could be identified in winter. It is months before couples reproduce with different couples in the following spring. Winter socialization during the non -reproductive season is indicative of the future. Winter behavior can predict spring divorce. The faithful couples strengthened their links over time, while the couples who divorced were more distanced. They even visit feeders at different times. The birds that divorced rarely preferred to socialize with their reproductive partner, unlike faithful birds.

The principal researcher, Adelaide Daisy Abraham, said in a statement: «Our results show that the relationships between birds are not static. We find a clear behavior signal in the winter months. They predict the divorce of a couple for spring. Divorce in birds is a social process that develops over time ».

Predicting behaviors

The researchers registered their behavior around feeders equipped with advanced radiofrequency identification technology (RFID). These feeders automatically detected tiny electronic labels that carried the birds of the study, registering their presence. This allowed researchers. It generated high -resolution data sets for each individual, mapping what birds were associated in the feeders.

These data were compared with information on what birds had formed couples during the previous and posterior reproductive season. The faithful coals visited the feeders with their reproductive partners with a frequency greater than the couples that divorced. This offers an exceptional perspective about the life cycle of social relations in a wild animal that forms couples.