Hot chicks chill out
By Helen Potter
There are scientific studies that change the world, there are studies that explore the fundamentals of nature and the universe… and there are some that somehow got funded for stating the bleeding obvious.This is one of them.
According to a new study by Ohio State University birds from a tropical climate expend less energy than those from a temperate climate. That's right folks, birds from sunnier climes don't use up as much energy keeping warm. Genius.
The researchers compared both the basal metabolic rate (the minimum energy needed for a bird to stay alive) and the peak metabolic rate (how much energy birds need to stay warm when exposed to cold temperatures) of tropical birds, birds that lived permanently in Ohio and birds that migrated.
They found that tropical birds used about 18 percent less energy to stay alive and 34 per cent less energy keeping warm. According to Popko Wiersma, a post-doctoral researcher, "tropical birds are unable to create as much heat as temperate species through shivering. Their bodies are not built for that."
It seems that tropical birds sit back, relax and take life at a slower pace than their cold weather counterparts. There's a life lesson for us all in there somewhere and I think for me to investigate it fully I should be sent somewhere sunny with a beach and unlimited funding.
Null Head Honcho - whaddaya think? (Ed – cool, you get the money, we’ll bring the cocktails).
More from Helen on her page.
- News - Chicks Put Out Early
- Video - The narcoleptic chick
- News - Bird with cotton ball legs
- Strange - Orange smelling birds
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