GrandmaSlappy
1751
50
3
https://www.audubon.org/news/many-birds-are-shrinking-and-growing-longer-wings-world-warms-why
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1319-unexplainable-77964320/episode/animals-in-the-year-20202025-290636069/
TheLastSpaceman
To get the fuck outta dodge
spitfires2000
The question is: "Why do smaller birbs with larger wings survive?"
Woogyface
they're tired living on the same ground as humans. probably preparing to live a life 100% in air. would do the same honestly
plebejade
Bergmannsche Regel? Not sure what it's called in English
YpsilantiRomani
Yup this has been know for awhile, the first 1 I heard was swallows wings shrinking meaning they are more acrobatic but have a harder time flying long distances
SilverFoxChaser
Garbage weighing them down?
agentcase
I'd assume the longer wings would allow them to ride thermals easier as it is noticeably hotter, while smaller bodies mean less food requirements.
EatPieLander
just to help non-birb watchers recognition
Whatdoyousaytoanicecupoftea
Known practice across a lot of species. Specially when trapped in a changing environment.
Dwarf elephants had a presence in the Palaeolithic on med's islands.
Shrunken over time from larger predecessors.
Difference here that the change is global.
Fyreworx
off the dome guess but i wonder if it's got something to do with smaller pools of food for them and larger wings to use less energy when flying around.
totallynotatimetraveler
less mass indicates less food. like how species get smaller on islands. as for longer wings. i know it makes it easier and more efficient to glide for longer travel. which also might be a survival response or a new need for migration for food, water or a more suitable temperate environment.
themobileappisbroken
Birds aren't even real.
laner7112000
Wake up, pheasants...
CaptainThePirate
What’s a pheasant?
bemibet
My peacock shrunk but I was in the pool.
TheJomsborgViking
I suspect the warming has something to do with it.
Perhaps longer wings means more heat diffusion while a smaller frame takes less fuel to run.
sascottsn
This is what I would guess, larger wings provide more area for heat to dissipate.
TwitchFox
I would assume longer wings = easier to glide on warmer wings?
Possibly Longer wings/smaller bodies for similar reasons to fennec foxes having goober ears for heat dissipation?
jalcantara88127001
Smaller birds need less food. Longer wings would give it a larger area for scavenging or hunting. At first glance. Elifino
emptyother
Lack of bugs in the system, maybe?
Twrecks123
Birds often use thermals (warmer columns of air) to soar or rise up with less wing beats. A warmer climate may not have thermals, or make them less efficient. Longer wings and smaller could be to adjust for that?
CJAW
Perhaps the longer wings also help to keep from overheating, like an elephant's ears?
FellaWithUmbrella
It's called fashion, sweaty, look it up
michiyl
Did you intent the "sweaty"? If so, that's a clever joke on humans, because we can sweat (unlike other animals)!
LespritDeLescalier22
Are Are you a birb?
michiyl
( j k )