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Birds Social Behaviour and Friendship Formation Study

Published on February 10, 2020

A field study by a group of biologists, including Roslyn Dakin, Professor of Biology at 杏吧原创 University, on the social behaviour and approaches to friendship formation of the manakin, a small tropical bird, was featured in the Ottawa Citizen.

Dakin and her co-author, Brandt Ryder of the Smithsonian Institution, followed 180 birds over three years in Ecuador, hand-tying custom-designed radio 鈥渂ackpacks鈥 on each one.  They found that the stability of one friendship depended on the nature of a bird鈥檚 overall social circle 鈥 鈥渋n ways that surprised us, and I think have some similarities to humans.鈥  The friendship lasted longer, she found, if the birds involved had a limited number of friends overall.

Read more about Roslyn Dakin鈥檚 research at: