Why Scientists Are Using Kites to Terrify Fish

The birdlike kites even have wings that flap.

Getty Images

In a rare combination, a biologist has teamed up with a kite company to study predatory birds and their effect on the parenting habits of animals.

Biologist Austin Gallagher, who also runs an ocean conservation nonprofit Beneath The Waves, has long studied predatory animals, and was interested in the relationships between birds and the fish that are hunted by them. Specifically, if getting hunted or even spooked by, say, an osprey affects how a fish watches over its eggs.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

The only problem was actual birds. The idea of even getting hold of an osprey, let alone a trained one, seemed to be out of reach. So Gallagher got the next best thing. A realistic kite, thanks to the Virginia company Jackite. The company sells realistic recreations of various birds in both kite and windsock form, which are often used as scarecrows. Not only do they look like the birds, their wings flap too.

They proved perfect for Gallagher, who published his study in the Canadian Journal of Zoology. He rigged them up in a lake (they come with poles attached) and put a GoPro near fish nests. Studying one type of fish, a small, freshwater type of sunfish known as pumpkinseeds, Gallagher got to know their birthing rituals. Female fish lay the eggs and leave, while the male parents stay and theoretically protect the eggs. How did the dads hold up to Gallagher's fake scares?

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Not well. "There were a couple of exceptions of super robust dads that would never leave," Gallagher tells Motherboard, "but in most cases, they want to live to reproduce another day." He noted a major drop in protective parenting by the male pumpkinseeds, although out of forty fish only three had gone out for the metaphorical cigarettes, never to return.

Predator-prey relationships are crucial to a strong ecosystem. They're often the most thrilling parts of nature documentaries like Planet Earth, and it's easy to root for the prey to escape and live for another day. But if every one escaped, the predators would die out. Their cycle is a central one to existence, and Gallagher's resourcefulness shows that you don't have to do what they do to study them. You just have to replicate something vaguely like it.

Source: Motherboard

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
More From Animals