Chimp & See Talk

Bird following duiker

  • City_of_Trees by City_of_Trees

    I'm relatively new to this but i couldn't find another example and it seemed strange. Is it normal for a bird to be following a duiker like this?

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  • jwidness by jwidness moderator

    I don't know about "normal", but we have seen it before -- ACP0004a49. The multispecies videos are always interesting!

    #coldfire

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  • ksigler by ksigler moderator in response to City_of_Trees's comment.

    Very cool find! Different species sometimes travel together, for various reasons, one of which is that the first one can disturb the ground and reveal insects or other food that the second one wants to eat. I suspect this might be the case here. It almost looks like the bird is chasing the duiker off, but there aren't any vocalizations, so that's why I'd guess it's a friendly interaction. We tag clips like this as #multispecies (because there's more than one species) and #cross-species_interaction (because one is acting based on the actions or presence of another). Thanks for highlighting this cool clip! Keep an eye out for more!

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  • vestigial by vestigial

    Lots of animals have insect pests, too, like ticks which I suppose could provide an easy meal. That bird looks similar to our local mockingbirds and they seem to be pretty smart and can take advantage of situations when they see a benefit. I've heard of birds pulling hair off of dogs or horses during nesting season to use in building their nests. I think birds are underrated in the intelligence category, especially given that corvids are wicked smart!

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  • Snorticus by Snorticus

    Completely agree @vestigial

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