This Deceptive Bird Imitates Animal Calls To Steal Food

Friday, May 2, 2014 - 14:01 in Biology & Nature

Fork-tailed drongo Dick Daniels / Wikimedia Commons The term "drongo" is sometimes used in Australia to mean dummy or halfwit. But the drongo is also a type of African bird that is certainly not dumb. A new study found that drongos can mimic the calls of 51 different species, which is impressive by itself. Individual birds can also remember as many as 32 calls.  While fork-tailed drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis) often alert other animals to the presence of predators with their alarm calls--which can send creatures like meerkats scurrying away, for example, mid-meal--they also use false alarms to get animals to abandon their food, after which they swoop in and eat it. Their own species' alarm call often does the job, but if it doesn't, they switch to the call of another species, often that of the type of animal they are trying to rob. They can mimic many birds and...

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