A few year ago , biologists Adrian Barnett and Peter Shaw were in Brazil doing field research . They ’d gone with the design of studying the feeding behavior of a monkey called the Golden - back up uakari , but another researchideacame fly out of the trees begging for their attending .
Golden - support uakaris migrate between juiceless forests and flooded forests in the primal Amazon tracking their most important nutrient source , unripe seed from severely - shell fruit . They travel through the upper canopies of the trees in groups that can carry anywhere from 12 to 100 monkeys . As a chemical group moves around , it can make quite a tumult , shaking branches and disturbing or daunt other animals .
While Barnett and Shaw tracked the uakaris from a canoe on the flooded woods floor , they realize that they were n’t the only ones tailing the monkeys . Wherever the uakari went , they saw , an assortment of birds followed them . When the uakaris stopped to scrounge or eat , the birds break , too , and then started drop behind them again when they moved along . The secret plan of follow the loss leader did n’t make much sense , so the research worker decided toinvestigate .
Barnett and Shaw think that the uakaris might be act as as flushers for some of the birds , startling dirt ball as they move through the tree and making them leisurely for the birds to catch . Two of the birdie the scientists had examine , the bronzy jacamar and the black - fronted nunbird ( above ) , feed on flying and leap insects like moth and grasshoppers . These bugs tend to clear out of the style when a band of uakaris comes storming through and would be easy pickings when chased out of the canopy . When the researchers compare the routine of hunting attempts the birds made when the uakari were around to when they were absent , theyfoundthat both birds indeed hunt and use up much more when the monkey were nearby .
Two other birds that follow the uakaris , the total darkness - crested antshrike and the black - winged antbird , eat tiny insects that live in moss or crevices on tree short pants and hide when they ’re disturbed by uakaris instead of fleeing . For these raspberry , scalawag crash through the branch does n’t make it easier to snap up a repast , and they did n’t trace or eat more when the uakaris were around . So what ’s the benefit of following them ?
Barnett and Shaw shortly saw that it ’s not just insects that get disturbed and flushed out by uakaris , but also little raptors like the slaty - backed forest falcon and grey - assembly line mortarboard . These birds — which exhaust antshrikes and ant bird — often cleared out when the uakaris came along and were seen less often when the rascal were present than when they were absent . The research worker are n’t indisputable if the raptors are merely annoy by the uakaris or if they fly because they and uakaris are both quarry for harpy eagle , which are also known to keep up the imp around . Either way , more monkeys intend fewer raptors and some degree of protective covering for the antshrikes and antbird .
“ So , there is quite a lot going on , ” Barnettwritesat theJournal of Zoologyblog , “ with two dissimilar groups of bird benefiting from the monkeys ’ rambuctious activities in quite dissimilar way ( while the mortarboard are probably off cursing in a recession somewhere ) . ”
