In this article, Zoe Kleinman (2013) reports that a study using a mechanically driven, computer controlled dead swamp sparrow has confirmed scientists' belief that the males of the species flap their wings to show aggression. To get their sixty days of tests in the open, the researchers had to overcome technical difficulties to animate the dead body, which barely lasted so often was it attacked by living sparrow males.
What really interested me was the behaviour of the human animals. They went to a lot of trouble to devise and then perform an experiment that, whilst interesting, doesn't seem earth shattering. And their budget was tiny - only $1,500! They must have spent more than that over the course of the research. I can't even imagine that small amount paying for the machinery that fit into the dead bird's body to make the wings flap under computer control. This wonderful demonstration of the human desire to solve puzzles, to better understand things around us, again reminds me strongly of the article on chimpanzees that I'm not blogging this evening. I've emailed that one to myself, so maybe it will pop up here tomorrow.
The actual research results do not surprise me at all. I grew up on a farm, and the birds there all seemed pretty aggressive to me, and wing flapping or raising definitely seemed to play a role in that. Even the roosters that lorded over our free range hens (very tasty, super fresh eggs) engaged in the same kind of wing flapping displays. I guess such research might seem a bit pointless, but I don't think it is. Just because something seems obvious doesn't mean it's true. Lots of common beliefs that human beings, often whole societies, have had turned out to be completely wrong. And the best way to make progress is to constantly test everything. As you will probably quickly learn, one of my most frequent comments in class is "Check". In any academic field, academic are always checking whether some belief, some idea or opinion, is right or not. And often ideas are wrong.
Getting it wrong and then fixing the mistakes is how we make progress, which is why you should not worry about making a few, or a lot of, mistakes in class. My job is help you progress by learning from the mistakes.
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