City birds are afraid of obesity

Electric light in cities helps birds have more time to feed, but they maintain a strict diet to prevent obesity.

According to the Telegraph, artificial light emitted from street lights and many other lamps affects the lives of many birds in urban areas. So Cardiff University scientists (UK) conducted a study of the effect of artificial light on the eating behavior of European red-necked birds. They learn about the amount of food they get into their bodies when they eat under natural light and artificial light.

Results showed that city birds have a different 'timetable' than rural birds. They wake up sooner and earn more late. But what surprised the research team was that birds rarely ate the amount of bait they had obtained, and they also selected bait when eating.

European red-necked birds catch prey.Photo: dkimages.com.

Alexandra Pollard, the leader of the research team, said: 'We found that the day time of city birds is much longer than their rural counterparts. However, despite having a longer time to feed and have a better chance of eating at night, their weight is only equal to or lower than that of the rural red-necked bird. Before that we always thought that birds always eat all the prey in front of them, but in fact that doesn't happen to the red-necked bird. '

Pollard added that her research does not indicate that electric light affects the feeding behavior of the red-necked bird, but many other studies show that artificial light changes a lot of bird behavior, such as birth activity. product.

'We should remember that many organisms live under the influence of artificial light - including invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. We will conduct other studies to assess the consequences of artificial light on animals in the short and long term , 'Pollard said.