Episode 1464
Preening
Sat, 2021-May-08 00:57 UTC
Length - 2:52
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Saturday, 8 May 2021 is Preening.
Preening is a maintenance behaviour found in birds that involves the use of the beak to position feathers, interlock feather barbules that have become separated, clean plumage, and keep ectoparasites in check. Feathers contribute significantly to a bird's insulation, waterproofing and aerodynamic flight, and so are vital to its survival. Because of this, birds spend considerable time each day maintaining their feathers, primarily through preening. Several actions make up preening behaviour. Birds fluff up and shake their feathers, which helps to "rezip" feather barbules that have become unhooked. Using their beaks, they gather preen oil from a gland at the base of their tail and distribute this oil through their feathers. They draw each contour feather through their bill, nibbling it from base to tip.
Over time, some elements of preening have evolved to have secondary functions. Ritualised preening has become a part of some courtship displays, for example. It is also a displacement activity that can occur when birds are subjected to two conflicting drives. Though primarily an individual function, preening can be a social activity involving two or more birds – a behaviour known as allopreening. In general, allopreening occurs either between two members of a mated pair or between flock members in a social species. Such behaviour may assist in effective grooming, in the recognition of individuals (mates or potential sexual partners), or in reducing or redirecting potential aggressive tendencies in social species. Most allopreening is confined to the head and neck, smaller efforts being directed towards other parts of the body.
Ingestion of pollutants or disease-causing organisms during preening can lead to problems ranging from liver and kidney damage to pneumonia and disease transmission. Injury and infection can cause overpreening in caged birds, as can confining a bird with a dominant or aggressive cage mate.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:57 UTC on Saturday, 8 May 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Preening on Wikipedia.
This podcast is produced by Abulsme Productions based on Wikipedia content and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Visit wikioftheday.com for our archives, sister podcasts, and swag. Please subscribe to never miss an episode. You can also follow @WotDpod on Twitter.
Abulsme Productions produces the current events podcast Curmudgeon's Corner as well. Check it out in your podcast player of choice.
This has been Emma Standard. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
|
|
Buy WotD Stuff!!
