Human trash is a birds’ feast! Or a last supper?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Meet Andrea Townsend and colleagues from Hamilton College and U-C Davis. They tested for differences in cholesterol levels, general health, and survival rates, between urban and rural baby crows. Then they investigated the impact of people food on RURAL nestlings. Er, they gave them McDonald’s cheeseburgers.
Turns out? City crows have higher cholesterol than their country cousins! AND the Big Mac Attack is real—it raised the cholesterol in rural birds, to near city levels.
Before your feathers get ruffled, scientists don’t know if this is a bad thing. Some baby crows are healthier with higher cholesterol.
Either way, seems like fodder for a Hitchcock film…or a disturbingly cute Kids Meal toy! From Bird-ger King.
Reference: Andrea K Townsend, Hannah A Staab, Christopher M Barker, Urbanization and elevated cholesterol in American Crows, The Condor, Volume 121, Issue 3, 1 August 2019, duz040, https://doi.org/10.1093/condor/duz040