The mates of flamingosare nonrandom 火烈鳥(niǎo)對(duì)伙伴很挑剔

蘇琳

火烈鳥(niǎo)喜歡結(jié)群生活，它們是世界珍稀鳥(niǎo)類，但是由于全球濕地面積急劇縮減，火烈鳥(niǎo)的處境岌岌可危。

Spend some time watching flamingos， and you might think that not much goes on in their tiny heads. But these elegant birds actually lead complex social lives. Each bird has certain other individuals it prefers to spend time with， and others it avoids.

For five years， Rose and his team observed the daily goings -on of five of the world，s six different flamingo species. They found the partnerships between the birds are nonran - dom. The birds are choosing who to associate with. Male-female pairs spend time together， but so do same-sex pairs and even groups of three or four. And those relationships can last for many years.“So there were some flamingos in the group that really didn，t care who their partner was for that day. They would flit around， and they would have many different rela- tionships with many different birds， ”Rose said.

Rose thinks that flamingos may have evolved their social lives due to their wetland habitats—in which the resources they need are concentrated in a small area， so they have to be gregarious （群居的）. If flamingos know that some birds are friendly， and they get on well with them， they can then waste less energy scrapping and squabbling with other birds that they don ， t get on with. By spending time with their friends， flamingos can more effi - ciently direct their limited time and energy to activities like foraging and mating.