AI Article Synopsis
- Storks use a cooling method called urohidrosis, where they wet their legs with excrement, and also spread their wings to regulate body temperature during hot weather.
- A study was conducted on Painted Storks in Delhi to observe these behaviors using videography, revealing that temperature and humidity impact their cooling techniques.
- Male storks engaged in more urohidrosis and wing-spreading than females, with these behaviors peaking during the hottest parts of the day and early in the nesting season, tapering off as temperatures dropped later in the season.
Article Abstract
To cope with heat stress, storks wet their legs by excreting on them, known as urohidrosis, and perform wing-spreading in which the wings are half extended in the form of an inverted triangle. While several studies have highlighted the role of urohidrosis as an important cooling mechanism and suggested a possible thermoregulatory function of wing-spreading, sex-based comparisons and trends of these behaviours throughout the breeding season remain unexplored. Here we explore thermoregulation in a wild population of Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala) nesting in the National Zoological Park, Delhi, India, through the non-invasive videography technique. Temperature, humidity and wind speed significantly influenced both urohidrosis and wing-spreading behaviours. Male storks exhibited higher rates of urohidrosis and spend more time wing-spreading compared to females. Seasonal and diurnal differences were observed with more urohidrosis and wing-spreading during the hottest hours of the day and early part of the nesting season in August-September. The rate of both behaviours declined as the nesting season progressed till November when ambient temperatures dropped.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2024.105115 | DOI Listing |
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