[Voodoo Vince]

Birds 'act like football fans'

Rival groups of birds act like football fans and even engage in chanting contests, according to new research.

The losers even commiserate with each other, with senior birds encouraging junior birds to "keep their peckers up".

They do it preening the younger birds as a reward for having performed well in a stressful situation, or as an inducement not to leave the group, according to the study by Dr Andy Radford of Bristol University.

The behaviour occurs with a strikingly-coloured southern African species, the green woodhoopoe, which lives in tightly knit groups of up to a dozen individuals.

Rival woodhoopoe groups frequently clash and engage in intense calling contests, which can last for anything up to 45 minutes.

They do not end in violence, but they do leave one group clearly victorious over the other - as the winning group will invade the territory of the losers and forage for food within it.

"It's a fair comparison with football fans," said Dr Radford. "The vocal displays are just as raucous, and if the contest really reaches a feverish pitch, it's not unknown for a member of a group to pluck a flower or a piece of lichen, almost as if it were waving a scarf or a flag."

Dr Radford is now a rugby fan, but as a boy he supported Scarborough FC, so he knows his football. "I have stood on the terraces and made my voice heard," he said.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm...=news.quirkies

[Beanman]

cleaver birds?

[haode]

Cool birds !

[lights08]

[uyen]

interesting,birds also need entertainment.

[sgelite]

You don't need a little bird to tell you that these five chicks are desperate for food


The mother chooses the chick in the middle, then it's back to work

[Applecha]

the birds are so cute in the first pic. they look as though they are singing chorus..

[yukio]

lol the first pic..