LSM1303 ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR : lecture11

Cicadas in Singapore

N. Sivasothi — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:29:14 GMT

There are a couple of posts in Habitatnews about cicada encounters - you'll recognise the photos from the lecture!

Giant Cicada emergence in the US

N. Sivasothi — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:20:55 GMT

Lovely footage from Life in the Undergrowth with BBC/David Attenborough that captures the once-in-17 year emergence of cicadas and their amazing calls.

Brood XIV is coming! - to mid-west USA in Apr-May 2008. See Cicada Mania for lovely photos, the emergence formula and erm, t-shirts and mugs!

Temporary grasslands of Singapore - A photo gallery by Paul Huang

N. Sivasothi — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:39:29 GMT

I showed you just these few some examples of birds that colonised Punggol grasslands.

Well, now you can view the complete and breath-taking gallery of Paul Huang's "Temporary grasslands of Singapore" at naturestops.com

Farmers contribute to lapwing conservation

N. Sivasothi — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:32:31 GMT

In the late 90's, it was reported that the lapwing, a formerly common bird across most of the United Kingdom had suffered severe in numbers,

In a 1987 survey, the breeding population was estimated at 200-250,000 pairs. By 1998, surveys estimated the population to be 120-140,000 pairs - a drop of 49% in 11 years!

A contributing factor was change in farm practises and loss of habitat for this open country bird.

Since then, amongst the conservation measures taken is Operation Lapwing - which supports the conservation work of many farmers!

An annual competition identifies the best examples of lapwing-friendly management and in the 2007 event, there were 300 participants and more than 135 pairs of lapwings had been bred on the seven best farms!

Social odour in birds - Crested Auklets

N. Sivasothi — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:28:08 GMT

"Tangerine Ruff ’n’ Sniff: new clue to bird social behaviour." The Royal Society Science News/Press release, 14 May 2003

"Although odours are a common form of communication in every other vertebrate animal, the possible use of scent to convey social information is an exciting addition to the study of avian behaviour."
The basic assumption is that vision and hearing are the main senses that birds use to signal each other, e.g. the colour of plumage; the sound of birdsong. This is questioned by new experimental evidence observed in the Crested Auklet, an arctic seabird.
The citrusy smell of Crested Auklet feathers only occurs during the breeding season. Research showed that the birds were repeatedly drawn to the scent of natural feathers and to the chemical components that make up the auklet’s characteristic odour. The seasonal "ruff-sniff" display, may perhaps act as a useful mechanism to obtain odour information about a potential mate.