Nature & Environment
Snake-Hunting Secretary Bird Literally Kicks Its Prey to Death with Super-Fast Strike
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jan 26, 2016 09:12 AM EST
In the Animal Kingdom, there are species that employ a variety of techniques to hunt their prey. But one of the most brutal methods is the one employed by the Secretary Bird. It turns out that these birds use the force of five times their body weight to stamp on and kill their preferred prey: snakes.
Secretary Birds hunt venomous snakes. This means that a missed strike can have deadly consequences. Because of this, the birds have developed the ability to deliver fast, forceful and accurate foot strikes that are sufficient to stun and kill prey.
"The exceptionally rapid strike contact duration is 1/10th of the time it takes to blink an eye-which takes around 150 ms," said Steve Protugal, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Such rapid time, coupled with the exceptionally long legs, means the birds can't be using proprioreception-the sixth sense we use to sense our position and movement. Therefore, they are using visual targeting and feed-forward motor control-(pre-planned movements)-during strike events. This means the birds can only correct for a missed strike in the next kick-once they've started a kick, they can't adapt it, and they have to wait for the next strike."
In this latest study, the researchers examined a captive male Secretary Bird called Madeleine. The scientists trained Madeleine to attack a rubber snake. The researchers measured the bird's kicks by putting a force plate in the bird's enclosure and putting the rubber snake across it. This revealed that the bird could kick with 195 Newtons to attack.
The findings reveal a bit more about these birds, and show just how exceptional their hunting techniques really are.
The findings are published in the journal Current Biology.
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First Posted: Jan 26, 2016 09:12 AM EST
In the Animal Kingdom, there are species that employ a variety of techniques to hunt their prey. But one of the most brutal methods is the one employed by the Secretary Bird. It turns out that these birds use the force of five times their body weight to stamp on and kill their preferred prey: snakes.
Secretary Birds hunt venomous snakes. This means that a missed strike can have deadly consequences. Because of this, the birds have developed the ability to deliver fast, forceful and accurate foot strikes that are sufficient to stun and kill prey.
"The exceptionally rapid strike contact duration is 1/10th of the time it takes to blink an eye-which takes around 150 ms," said Steve Protugal, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Such rapid time, coupled with the exceptionally long legs, means the birds can't be using proprioreception-the sixth sense we use to sense our position and movement. Therefore, they are using visual targeting and feed-forward motor control-(pre-planned movements)-during strike events. This means the birds can only correct for a missed strike in the next kick-once they've started a kick, they can't adapt it, and they have to wait for the next strike."
In this latest study, the researchers examined a captive male Secretary Bird called Madeleine. The scientists trained Madeleine to attack a rubber snake. The researchers measured the bird's kicks by putting a force plate in the bird's enclosure and putting the rubber snake across it. This revealed that the bird could kick with 195 Newtons to attack.
The findings reveal a bit more about these birds, and show just how exceptional their hunting techniques really are.
The findings are published in the journal Current Biology.
Related Stories
Oil Leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deep Ocean is Helping Marine Life Thrive
Environmental Performance Index Ranks the World's Top and Worst Performers
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone