[TN-Bird] Butts in nests
- From: "Aborn, David" <David-Aborn@xxxxxxx>
- To: TN-birds Birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2012 15:27:35 +0000
6 December 2012
This is interesting, but not a reason for people to smoke:
A study was just published in the journal Biology Letters that found birds that
had cigarette butts in their nests had fewer parasites. Researchers in Mexico
collected 28 House Sparrow nests and 29 House Finch nests right after the
chicks had fledged. More than four out of five nests had some cigarette butts,
and the more of those were present, the fewer mites were found. The same was
found when they set sticky tape to trap parasites in active nests 27 from
House Sparrows, 28 from House Finches). The authors could not determine if the
birds actively collected the butts to reduce parasite loads, or if that is just
a coincidental effect. Their study also doesn't touch the question of whether
the benefits of nicotine from the butts outweigh the hazards to chicks posed by
cigarette chemicals. It would be interesting to know if cities with a lot of
smokers have bigger sparrow or finch populations than places where there are
fewer smokers.
David Aborn
Chattanooga, TN
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