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| What with, you know, everything, I think we could use some funny right now. Here's Gizmodo, keeping us abreast of scientific developments. Great Tits Sometimes Break Up, Bird Researchers Find  New research finds that “tit divorce” is less arbitrary than biologists thought, revealing a complex social side to these common European songbirds. You'll have to click on the link to see a picture of a beautiful pair of great tits. We’re talking about the birds. Way to ruin the mood. Great tits are small, yellowish songbirds common to the woodlands of Europe. By way of contrast, boobies are larger seabirds, mostly tropical, with some species limited in range to the Americas. Tit pairs are known to be monogamous during breeding season, splitting up after fully raising their offspring. Yes, you're damn right I'm going to milk this one for all it's worth. But new research suggests that this “tit divorce” may be the product of complex social relationships formed during and after the breeding season. So, not due to age and gravity? Published July 30 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the paper reports that not all tit pairs separate in late summer when breeding season ends. A sizeable portion of tit couples remain together throughout the winter, hitting it off again when spring comes. I think the article's author is trying very, very hard to avoid doing what I'm doing right now. That, or their editor (do those still exist?) got their hands on it. In other words, tit dating status is complicated, and for reasons that aren’t yet entirely clear. Well, they are usually hidden from our sight. For the study, Abraham and her colleagues tracked individual great tits found in the woods near Oxford. I used to find them in the woods near a university, too. Okay, okay, a moment of seriousness: this is actually pretty cool, especially if you read the sciencey bits of the article at the link. I saved this one a while back, but with the passing of Jane Goodall almost dominating the news cycle today, it came up randomly at an appropriate time—because we're still learning stuff about other species. That doesn't stop my inner 12-year-old from giggling like a loon, though. |
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