Birdfeeders Found to Cause Evolution of New Species

[Ferre]

Up until now, most people have likely regarded bird-feeders as merely a pleasant addition to their gardens. But scientists have recently discovered that bird-feeders in the UK are actually having a serious long term impact on the birds that eat from them--so large an impact that researchers believe the feeders have brought about the first evolutionary step in a brand new species.

According to the BBC, scientists have found that bird-feeders have had a major impact on European birds called blackcaps. The blackcaps' natural instinct has historically been to migrate to Spain to spend their winters, where they feed on fruits and berries. But the rise of bird-feeders in the UK have changed that. Scientists discovered that blackcaps "follow a different "evolutionary path" if they spend the winter eating food put out for them in UK gardens."

Interesting article; Birdfeeders Found to Cause Evolution of New Species : TreeHugger (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/birdfeeders-found-to-cause-evolution-bird-species.php)

[Strong]

This is Cry's area of interest, but I've not see her for a while.

[Atom]

I'm not surprised. I think that the evolutionary paths of many different animal and plant species are being altered by the most intelligent species (humans), for better or for worse.

[Ferre]

Yep, I also suspect that we are responsible for the social evolution within our breeds of domestic animals as well, take cats for example, they developed a way to communicate and co exist with humans that is rather interesting once you digg into that subject, same goes for what we now know as city birds. Animals not only adapt to humans but they even develop special skills to deal with humans and to get humans actually do things for them when they live in the same environment.

[Strong]

That's definitely right, especially with dogs. There are some species that just would not survive naturally, the Cocker Spaniel, Bull Dog are just two examples, they are fundamentally flawed and would just die out except for humans.

[ewomack]

And humans have been becoming stupider for generations now...

[Cryren8972]

You know...I could use this.
I breed cockatiels for show, and they are very delicate when it comes to climate, being tropical birds.
I wonder if I could gradually acclimate them, breed the cold hardy ones, and end up with a cockatiel that can be kept outside even in a NC winter (which isn't extremely harsh, but a cockatiel couldn't survive)
If it would only take 50 years, I could potentially see some results before my death.
Pondering now...

[Strong]

We have flocks of parrots taking over the parks in London, so why not! They might end up looking like owls though.

[Cryren8972]

That could be an issue...the monk parrokeets are causing havoc in Washington. However, cockatiels shouldn't cause a problem. They don't build big nests, but roost in trees instead. Of course breeding for one trait could change another, and they very well could resort to building nests to shelter from the cold.
It would be interesting to see.