Wednesday 6 July 2022 08:03 AM Certain birds have evolved to have bright feathers to avoid mid-air collisions trends now
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Birds with brightly-coloured feathers under their wings may have developed them to avoid mid-air collisions, experts believe.
Researchers compared the underwing colours of 1,780 species and found that larger birds, as well as those that flocked together in big colonies, were most likely to have colourful, contrasting feathers.
The researchers think this is because larger birds can't duck and weave as easily, while those in colonies have plenty more feathery friends to avoid in the air.
They believe this signalling function allows large, colonial-breeding birds to trace the movements of nearby individuals, thereby reducing the risk of a collision, and in turn the chances of death or injury.
Theory: Birds with bright coloured feathers under their wings may have developed them to avoid mid-air collisions, experts believe
The study was carried out by researchers at Sun Yat-sen University in China.
'Collisions between fast-moving objects often cause severe damage, but collision avoidance mechanisms of fast-moving animals remain understudied,' they wrote in their paper.
'Particularly, birds can fly fast and often in large groups, raising the question of how individuals avoid in-flight collisions that potentially are lethal.'
The researchers said that because larger species have lower manoeuvrability than smaller ones, and as those flying in large colonies have less room for error, it would make sense that these birds have evolved colourful underwings to minimise the chances of a collision.
'The collision
