News Animals

Seabirds use preening to decide how to divvy up parenting duties

Grooming issues can signal health, other problems

Common murres

FAMILY AFFAIR  Common murres take turns brooding their chick and foraging for fish. Preening each other acts as a health check and way to negotiate parental duties if one bird is in poorer condition, new research suggests. 

DickDaniels/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Elizabeth Eaton

- More than 2 years ago

Seabirds called common murres appear to use preening as a way to negotiate whose turn it is to watch their chick and who must find food.