Hey, animal behavior/biology/wildlife nerds:
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Hey, animal behavior/biology/wildlife nerds:
Is there a term for when animals collect shiny or colorful things to decorate their nests? I'm specifically thinking of the packrat that was in my bathroom wall and all the inedible red seeds it collected from a plant in the yard.
This is different than food hoarding/caching, since these things, like the blue objects bower birds collect, are inedible.
And, are there examples of this behavior being part of a plant's seed-dispersal strategy? E.g. producing brightly colored seeds to lure an animal to collect them, but also without eating them?
TIA
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Hey, animal behavior/biology/wildlife nerds:
Is there a term for when animals collect shiny or colorful things to decorate their nests? I'm specifically thinking of the packrat that was in my bathroom wall and all the inedible red seeds it collected from a plant in the yard.
This is different than food hoarding/caching, since these things, like the blue objects bower birds collect, are inedible.
And, are there examples of this behavior being part of a plant's seed-dispersal strategy? E.g. producing brightly colored seeds to lure an animal to collect them, but also without eating them?
TIA
@Mikal I have no idea, but I've read that storks do it too. And because they build large nests and return to the same nest every year, those nests accumulate historic doodads. I've read an article about how they're like a fashion archive with past fashion in layers further down the nest: single gloves, hats, scarves, and even tights were found when deconstructing one 🤭
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R relay@relay.an.exchange shared this topic on
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Hey, animal behavior/biology/wildlife nerds:
Is there a term for when animals collect shiny or colorful things to decorate their nests? I'm specifically thinking of the packrat that was in my bathroom wall and all the inedible red seeds it collected from a plant in the yard.
This is different than food hoarding/caching, since these things, like the blue objects bower birds collect, are inedible.
And, are there examples of this behavior being part of a plant's seed-dispersal strategy? E.g. producing brightly colored seeds to lure an animal to collect them, but also without eating them?
TIA
@Mikal Not a dang clue, but maybe "magpieing"?
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Hey, animal behavior/biology/wildlife nerds:
Is there a term for when animals collect shiny or colorful things to decorate their nests? I'm specifically thinking of the packrat that was in my bathroom wall and all the inedible red seeds it collected from a plant in the yard.
This is different than food hoarding/caching, since these things, like the blue objects bower birds collect, are inedible.
And, are there examples of this behavior being part of a plant's seed-dispersal strategy? E.g. producing brightly colored seeds to lure an animal to collect them, but also without eating them?
TIA
@Mikal Given that humans are animals, I think the word ‘decorate’ might be the right one.
On the same note, all the examples I can think of where plants use beauty or colour as a seed-dispersion strategy are all ones that involve humans.
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topic on
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Hey, animal behavior/biology/wildlife nerds:
Is there a term for when animals collect shiny or colorful things to decorate their nests? I'm specifically thinking of the packrat that was in my bathroom wall and all the inedible red seeds it collected from a plant in the yard.
This is different than food hoarding/caching, since these things, like the blue objects bower birds collect, are inedible.
And, are there examples of this behavior being part of a plant's seed-dispersal strategy? E.g. producing brightly colored seeds to lure an animal to collect them, but also without eating them?
TIA
@Mikal That's...a really good question. And I can only guess as a human that the collected object satisfies a pattern in the bird's psyche. Like I would say "pretty flower," or "cool shell," and put it in my pocket. Particularly for the bowerbird, wouldn't you be interested in getting to know someone whom you spotted reading the same book you adored?
The seed-dispersal question is even more interesting--perhaps seeds/fruit could evolve to mimic edible varieties?
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@Mikal That's...a really good question. And I can only guess as a human that the collected object satisfies a pattern in the bird's psyche. Like I would say "pretty flower," or "cool shell," and put it in my pocket. Particularly for the bowerbird, wouldn't you be interested in getting to know someone whom you spotted reading the same book you adored?
The seed-dispersal question is even more interesting--perhaps seeds/fruit could evolve to mimic edible varieties?
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thank you for this link, I never knew.... 