![]() also, as they are not closely related species, the resulting hybrids would be sterile. although ive never seen one in the flesh, ive heard of zeb X beng crosses, but they are rare. i breifly kept a cock zeb and hen bengalese together (both birds had previously bred with their own kind) and they built a nest together, copulted regularly and laid eggs, the eggs were infertile, but i belive this was to do with the age of the hen bengalese, she was ancient. there is often a negative attitude towards such hybrids as it seems there is a fear that once someone produces a few odd hybrids, the future of pure strains will suddenly hang in the balance, which is rubbish, especialy when you are talking about very common species which produce sterile offspring in the first place.īack on topic, no, zebs and canaries cannot hybridise, although i wouldnt say they could never try, the species are not closely related enough to actualy cross breed, it woud be like trying to cross a fox with a dog, they are from the same extended family, and they may actialy try to breed, but its geneticly impossible.īengalese and zebras will hybridise, but not readily. i have seen beng X hecks, and hecks are more closely related to zebs than bengs, so its certainly possible.Īs for 'creating a sterile species', well thats an oxymoron if ever i read one, how can a species exist if its sterile. Perhaps wild birds, the researchers note, may have even stronger preferences for camouflage since the threat of predation for them is very real.Click to expand.bengalese and zebras will hybridise, but not readily. So it’s interesting to find that these birds still bothered to employ the camouflage technique. Their parents, grandparents and others many generations back would also have not had any dealings with predators. The second color may help the birds make the nest look less like a nest, and thus less like something a predator should check out.īecause the birds in the study were captive, they had never encountered predators. They may have been employing a technique called disruptive coloration, the researchers say. But they also usually used some of the second color. ![]() The birds tended to build their nests out of the color that matched the walls of their cage. The results of the study appear October 1 in The Auk. Then the birds were given two cups containing colored paper - one color that matched the walls and a second contrasting color. Two walls of the cage were lined with colored paper, and a nest cup was placed in that half of the cage. The researchers set each pair up in its own cage. So Bailey’s team gathered 21 pairs of zebra finches, some of which were already housed at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, while others were bought from a local pet store. And even better, because zebra finches have good color vision, building a camouflaged nest might be possible. Since birds tend to hunt based on sight rather than smell, camouflaging a nest might work to protect the eggs sequestered inside. Predators, usually birds, take a heavy toll on the zebra finches, though. ![]() Male finches usually build nests in dense shrubs and layer the outside of the nests with dry grass stems and fine twigs. ![]() Andrews in Fife, Scotland, and colleagues, the answer was zebra finches. ![]()
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