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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAustralian raptors start fires to flush out prey
Wow!
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Australian Aboriginal lore is replete with references to birds carrying fire, and some traditional ceremonies even depict the behaviour. Now ornithologists have collected accounts from witnesses across the savannas of Australias far north, known as the Top End, suggesting three Australian birds of prey species use smouldering branches to spread fires and scare prey into their waiting talons.
Black kites (Milvus migrans), whistling kites (Haliastur sphenurus) and brown falcons (Falco berigora) all regularly congregate near the edges of bushfires, taking advantage of an exodus of small lizards, mammals, birds and insects but it appears that some may have learnt not only to use fire to their advantage, but also to control it.
At or around an active fire front, birds usually black kites, but sometimes brown falcons will pick up a firebrand or a stick not much bigger than your finger and carry it away to an unburnt area of grass and drop it in there to start a new fire, says Bob Gosford, an ornithologist with the Central Land Council in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, who led the documentation of witness accounts. Its not always successful, but sometimes it results in ignition.
Observers report both solo and cooperative attempts, often successful, to spread wildfires intentionally via single-occasion or repeated transport of burning sticks in talons or beaks. This behaviour, often represented in sacred ceremonies, is widely known to local people in the Northern Territory, write the authors behind the find in the Journal of Ethnobiology.
More at https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/australian-raptors-start-fires-to-flush-out-prey
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,795 posts)And just what Australia needs as the fire season heats up.
Of course, they're doing what would be OK if we weren't experiencing climate change.
Brother Buzz
(36,500 posts)by creating backfires. The operative word is could.
A backfire is fire set intentionally to arrest the progress of an approaching fire by creating a burned area in its path, thus depriving the fire of fuel.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,795 posts)They could help............or not, depending on where they set the fires.
Still, it's an interesting thought.
Brother Buzz
(36,500 posts)and I'm guessing the benefit is negligible.
I'm reminded of stories I heard as a kid about burning rodents escaping fires by crossing established fire lines and starting the fires anew.
canetoad
(17,215 posts)Thanks for posting.
One of the best gifts I was ever given was a years subscription to Cosmos mag.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Damn, that's just creepy.
Docreed2003
(16,900 posts)maxsolomon
(33,457 posts)yeeks
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)Duppers
(28,132 posts)These intelligent, amazing birds are dangerous! Australia doesn't need any more wildfires.
See: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212673539
Cirque du So-What
(26,027 posts)take it as a compliment.
johnsolaris
(220 posts)Last edited Tue Nov 12, 2019, 08:35 PM - Edit history (1)
Hi,
For the longest time experts thought that only humans understood how to use tools. Then it was discovered that chimps & some birds would use twigs & plant leaves to find a meal by sticking them in ant & termite beds to pull out the insects. Several species of birds have learned that fire will drive out prey and in times of drought & fires, which means less food & will get in front of the fire to find a tasty meal. This just shows that the animals are far more intelligent than we give them credit.
Bayard
(22,228 posts)I'll say it first--they're smarter than tRump.