Many animals use signals to indicate their general level of fitness, giving potential suitors a hint of how their offspring might fare. For the most part, the effort and energy involved in producing these signals provide an accurate read on fitness. But other species use indirect signals to advertise themselves to mates, which leaves open the possibility of cheating, of advertising a fitness that isn’t really there. Researchers have now identified a predatory bird that advertises its fitness using white plastic (no paper, please), and is so scrupulously honest that, when researchers added some additional plastic, most of the birds removed it.

The bird in question is the black kite. The kite chooses its nesting location based on the quality of the nearby food sources, and then defends it, as other kites will challenge a breeding pair for a prime location. The best locations tended to be occupied by fit breeding pairs, to the exclusion of juveniles or older animals.

Read the comments on this post

View original post here:
Honest raptors refuse to lie about their fitness