nosh nook #63 - wednesday, june 10, 2009

junk food gives crow chicks a weight problem (link)
06.09.09 - new scientist - by macgregor campbell

i grew up a curious child who collected national geographic animal cards, a child fascinated by the earth's cornucopia of animals. since they were one of the animals i actually got to see on a regular basis, i came to like the crow. sure, i saw chickadees & sparrows & purple finches every day, but those birds were tiny & none of them had the rebellious jet black appearance of the crow. crows were clearly a far superior bird. now, as an "adult," i may have to rethink my childhood theories about them.

as macgregor campbell reports, a group of researchers at binghamton university learned that while suburban & urban crows have a more dependable, easily accessible food source, the "leftover french fries and donuts a crow would find at these sources may be fine for adults, they can have a detrimental effect on growing young crows." the researchers discovered that "not only were suburban nestlings smaller than their rural brethren, their levels of blood protein were also lower. the results suggest that their diets, while adequate in terms of calories, lack nutrients that nestlings need to grow to their full potential size."

it's mind-boggling.  according to kevin mcgowan, one of the study's co-authors, "if someone throws out trash, then the crows eat the trash instead of, say, a baby rabbit."  when i read that, i was floored.  what kind of being turns down a perfectly tasty baby rabbit?  while researchers believed it made sense that the crows would go for the food that was easiest to find, they didn't know why the crows would feed their young the less nutritious foods.  maybe they just want to be like us intelligent humans.  after all, if it wasn't for us, they never would have been able to experience the awesomeness of a hostess twinkie.  that would have been a crying shame.