Female hummingbirds will also put on bright plumes to avoid harassment

Female hummingbirds will also put on bright plumes to avoid harassment

Female hummingbirds will also wear colorful feathers to avoid harassment.

Just like in human society, female hummingbirds “dress up” themselves in order to avoid harassment
.

By observing Jacobin white-necked hummingbirds in Panama, the researchers found that more than a quarter of female hummingbirds have the same bright feathers as male hummingbirds, which helps them avoid male aggressive behaviors such as pecking during feeding.

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As we all know, the male Jacobin white-necked hummingbird has bright colors: brilliant blue head, bright white tail and white belly
.

On the other hand, the female's color is very monotonous-soft green, gray or black make it blend into the environment

All female young birds have brilliant colors, but 20% of the females will not change to soft colors with age
.

At present, it is not clear whether this phenomenon is caused by genetic selection of hummingbirds or environmental factors

"Hummingbirds are loved by many people, but there are still many mysteries that we haven't noticed or studied
.

" Falk said, "You don't need to find interesting results through an unknown bird

In order to understand why some female hummingbirds maintain their brilliant colors, the researchers set up a scene where they fed the hummingbirds with a feeder and observed the interaction between the hummingbirds
.

They found that hummingbirds mainly harass female hummingbirds with dim colors, which supports the hypothesis that brilliant colors are caused by social choices

In addition, most females have brilliant colors during their infancy, rather than during their reproductive period
.

This means that they will have gorgeous colors only when they are not looking for a mate

In future research, the Falk team hopes to use the results of the mutation of the female Jacobin white-necked hummingbird to understand how the differences between males and females in other species may have evolved
.

(Source: Tang Yichen of Science Net)

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