A paper jointly published by Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University (NTU) on how the cooperative strategies employed by the Yuhina brunneiceps songbird lowered social conflict and increased survivability appeared in internationally renowned magazine Nature Communications yesterday.
The Yuhina brunneiceps, otherwise known as the Formosan Yuhina or Taiwan Yuhina, is endemic to the mid to high altitudes of mountain ranges in Taiwan.
According to the report, rainfall, low temperatures and typhoons during the East Asian Monsoon season from May to June pose an unfavorable environment for the Yuhinas, but also give researchers a chance to understand how such an environment affects the social behavior of the Yuhina species.
Photo courtesy of Lin Ying-tian
The research was carried out from 2004 to 2007 at the university’s Highland Experimental Farm in Nantou County and led by NTU School of Forestry and Resource Conservation professor Yuan Hsiao-wei (袁孝維) and Biodiversity Research Center Academia Sinica assistant researcher Shen Sheng-feng (沈聖峰).
Researchers collected 37 Yuhina nests and analyzed how the birds fed their young for 85 days and 288 hours. Using traditional telescopes, high-tech radio frequency identification chips and digital recording systems to monitor the birds, the team found that “fight frequency was lower, fewer total eggs were laid and incubation was more likely to start after all females completed egg laying [which causes more synchronized egg hatching].”
They would not fight over who had the better hatching place and would even lay fewer eggs to better synchronize egg hatching, the paper said, adding that due to lack of competition the rate of hatchlings living to leave the nest increased, the paper said.
One to four couples would share a nest for synchronous egg hatching, but despite their unique social behavior, Yuan said the research showed there were no “extra-marital” affairs between them.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS