Migrating Birds Chill To Fatten Up
Friday, September 11, 2009 - 07:21
in Biology & Nature
Most migrating birds can't carry enough fuel to reach their destinations, so refuel en route. However the aviators expend twice as much energy during stopovers as they use in transit. Wondering whether migrating blackcaps save energy by dropping their body temperature during stopovers, researchers measured the bird's temperatures as they refuelled and found that they drop their body temperatures at night by up to 30 percent to conserve energy and fatten faster.