Zebra finches use camouflage
Ida Bailey and her colleagues of the University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland discovered that zebra finches use camouflage. Male finches use dry grass, stems, and fine twigs to build nests in dense shrubs. Birds hunt based on sight instead of smell, so camouflaging their nests work in order to protect their eggs. Zebra finches have good color vision too.Bailey’s team collected 21 pairs of zebra finches, some of them already belonged to the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and the others were bought from a local pet store. The researchers put each pair in it’s own cage.
Two walls of the cage were lined with colored paper, and a nest cup was put in that half of the cage. The birds were then given two cups that had colored paper–one color matched the walls and the second contrasting color. The birds tended to use the paper that matched the walls of the cage, but also used some of the other color, which may be applying to a technique called disruptive coloration. The second color could help in making the nest look less like a nest. The birds were ancestors were also held captive so they never dealt with any predators, yet the need to use camouflage still was in nature for them.
