When a bird drapes its nest with snake skin, it isn’t just making an interesting home décor choice. For some birds, it keeps predators at bay.
Researchers combined new and historical data to show birds that nest in cavities – covered nests with small openings – are more likely to use shed snake skins in their construction than birds that build open-cup nests, and this practice helps deter predators from eating the eggs.
“What do snakes eat? They eat a lot of mice and small mammals,” said Vanya Rohwer, senior research associate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and lead author of “The Evolution of Using Shed Snake Skin in Bird Nests,” published Dec. 17 in the journal The American Naturalist.
The full length article can be found in The Cornell Chronicle.
