African bird shows signs of evil stepdad behavior
Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 14:42
in Biology & Nature
An African desert-dwelling male bird favors his biological sons and alienates his stepsons, suggests new research. The species is the southern pied babbler, a black and white bird found in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Previous work on the southern pied babbler has shown negative outcomes for birds who live alone for longer periods, including a decreased likelihood of attaining dominance in another group and increased weight loss.