Birds 'behave like football hooligans'

by Paul ECCLESTON

Birds behave like football fans after seeing their side beaten by a rival team, researchers have found.

They sing together in exactly the same way as football crowds chant to taunt the opposition.

And they console and fuss over each other in the same way that fans my commiserate and drown their sorrows in the pub after a defeat.

The discoveries were made by a team from Bristol University who studied the South African Green Woodhoopoe.

They found the birds preened each other after losing a battle with local opposition, probably as encouragement to pick themselves up and fight another day.

"Just as football fans commiserate with their friends in the pub when their team loses a match, research demonstrates that birds support one another following contests with their rivals," said a spokesman for the project.

"Rival groups often engage in raucous vocal displays, akin to opposing football supporters chanting at one another. During these conflicts, subordinates contribute more than dominants." Green woodhoopoes live in groups of up to 12 individuals, which include a dominant breeding pair and a number of non-breeding, subordinate 'helpers' that assist in the raising of the dominants' offspring.

In Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B, Dr. Andy Radford said groups with the greatest number of birds tended to win and the dominant birds might be preening their subordinates in return for their loyalty.

Ornithologists have suspected that the amount of conflict a group engages in boosted the level of co-operation among members but this was the first study to investigate the possible link.

Dr. Radford discovered that preening rates were highest in groups of Green Woodhoopoes that had the most tempestuous relationships with their neighbours.

"Preening may reduce stress and enhance cohesion among group members, which is particularly important following battles that are lost," he said.

Dr. Radford added: "Groups give alternating choruses in which all group members participate by bowing up and down while cackling loudly and the local Xhosa name for the species, inthlekibafazi, translates literally as 'the cackling laughter of women.

"These conflicts can last for up to 45 min, and when one reaches fever pitch, a flower or piece of lichen is often plucked and passed from group member to group member, much like the waving of a flag or a scarf at a soccer game."