London: Birds are more clever than
you thought -- the avians can talk out of the corner of their
mouths in a bid to scare off predators, says a new study.
An international team, led by the University of
California, has carried out the study and found that birds can
direct their voices towards the potential threat, even if they
are at a right angle to them.
In fact, the "remarkable sophistication" of their call
helps the birds to signal to the predator that they should
leave their area.
In their study, researchers found that two small
American songbirds, the house finch and the yellow rumped
warbler, could pull of the trick.
"Both species emit calls that are significantly skewed
towards the left or right depending on whether the bird is
facing to the left or the right of the predator.
"We found that some birds 'can talk out of the corner
of their mouths' by beaming their calls to predators when
facing lateral to them," 'The Daily Telegraph' quoted the
researchers as saying.
However, another similar bird, the dark-eyes
junco, was not able to throw his call in the same way, the
researchers, who tested how the birds reacted in the presence
of an owl, found.
All three birds are common targets for bird or mammal
predators, revealed the findings published in 'The Proceedings
of the Royal Society B' journal.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 20:12