Description

Editorial on two research papers in Journal of Experimental Biology.

Period25-Aug-2003

Media coverage

1

Media coverage

  • TitleA price worth paying
    Degree of recognitionInternational
    Media name/outletJournal of Experimental Biology
    Date25/08/2003
    DescriptionThere's no doubt that hen's teeth are rare, but most birds don't need teeth to grind their food; they solve the mashing problem with a powerful gizzard,crushing food with a few contractions. But not all gizzards are equal. In fact, red knots' gizzards grow larger when the birds put on weight ready to migrate. But they also change size throughout the year, and `there was no pattern to this variation' says Jan van Gils. Theunis Piersma and van Gils were puzzled why some birds had large gizzards and others small ones, so they decided to measure how much energy it took a bird to get the most from it's crunchy diet to see if big gizzards gave birds the feeding edge.
    Producer/AuthorKathryn Phillips
    URLdx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00590
    PersonsTheunis Piersma, Jan van Gils