Birds are buying alligator protection using baby bird sacrifice.
A recent study in PLoS One examines the complex coexistence of alligator and wading bird colonies in the Florida Everglades. Environmental scientists have long recognized that a mutually beneficial relationship known as “facilitation” plays a significant role in the success of both birds and alligators. For the sake of their own survival, the birds decide to build their nests in trees directly in the middle of alligator territory. Since their nests are beyond their choke zone, the local alligators concentrate on possum and raccoon prey that would typically consume bird eggs. Alligators keep the birds nests safe from predators.
Seldom did people ponder what the alligators gained from this arrangement. This new study aims to answer the question, “They can get raccoons anywhere, so why stick around bird colonies?”
It appears that alligators have two direct advantages. One is an indirect advantage: the abundance of nutrients in bird poop can enhance the area’s appeal to marine life in general, which could lead to more mouthwatering snacks for the gators. The other is a direct benefit. Generally speaking, wading birds spawn far more eggs than they can accommodate in a single nest. For the enjoyment of the alligators, adult birds discard extra chicks into the marshy waters below. That’s a lot of chicks when you have an entire colony of egrets.
The researchers discovered that alligators regularly congregate directly beneath the nests within chick-catching range by putting cameras close to bird nests in swamps (see below). It is evident that the alligators are hoping the adults will throw them a snack.
1: Northern CardinalWhile male
6. Dark-Eyed JuncoCalled snowbirds across much of the continent, flocks of
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