3 ms·
Birds intentionally spread forest fires
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- NotSwift 5y agoFrom an evolutionary point of view, this is a very good adaptation. In the somewhat longer term it might not be a good adaptation when people start killing these birds because they might spread fire.
- rsj_hn 5y agoI'm reminded of those honeyguide birds in Africa that have co-evolved with hunter-gatherers and help them to find honey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ETvF9z8pc0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ETvF9z8pc0 Absolutely fascinating to watch.
- jraph 5y ago(2018)
- throwawaysea 5y agoThat doesn't surprise me. Forest fires historically have not been a problem. They play various roles in maintaining a healthy and thriving ecosystem (see https://mylandplan.org/content/good-and-bad-forest-fires https://mylandplan.org/content/good-and-bad-forest-fires). It makes sense that animals that survived natural selection processes help cultivate those fires in a sort of synergistic cycle. For those interested, there's also a great TED Talk from a US Forest Service expert on why modern wildfires have become a problem (https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_hessburg_why_wildfires_have_gotten_worse_and_what_we_can_do_about_it https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_hessburg_why_wildfires_have_g...), making clear why forest fires were not an issue all this time.