• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, September 29, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Pheasants lose their cool after fighting

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 10, 2022
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Pheasants lose their cool after fighting
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Pheasants lose their cool after fighting

Pheasants lose their cool after fighting

Credit: Credit Tim Fawcett

Pheasants lose their cool after fighting

Pheasants’ heads cool rapidly as they prepare to fight – then heat up afterwards, new research shows.

Scientists from the University of Exeter used thermal cameras to watch juvenile pheasants, to see how their temperature changed during aggressive interactions that establish the pecking order.

They found that pheasants – both the instigator and the recipient of the aggression – grew more cool-headed before a fight, due to a stress response in which blood rushes to the body’s core.

Their heads became hotter again after the confrontation, as normal blood flow was restored.

“We were surprised that both individuals in these aggressive encounters followed a similar pattern of cooling and heating,” said Dr Tim Fawcett, of the University of Exeter.

“We expected that a fight would be more stressful for the pheasant on the receiving end of the aggression, and therefore that we’d see a stronger response in them.

“We can’t say for certain what causes this pattern, but it could be that maintaining a place at the top of the pecking order is just as stressful as being at the bottom.”

While male and female pheasants followed a similar pattern of cooling and heating before and after a fight, females were cooler on average.

“Thermal cameras provide a unique opportunity to non-invasively measure dynamic changes in physiological state over a short period of time,” said Dr Mark Whiteside, from the University of Plymouth.

“Using this technique we were able to measure responses to aggressive interactions, in semi-natural environments, in real time.”

Changes in blood flow are an important part of the stress response in multiple animal species, in a variety of different situations.

The pheasants in the study were six or seven weeks old. They were captive at the time, but were later released into the wild.

The paper comes 100 years after Norwegian zoologist Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe coined the term “pecking order” in his PhD thesis about chickens.

Published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, the new study – by a team including the University of Plymouth – was funded by the European Research Council and the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

The paper is entitled: “Hot-headed peckers: thermographic changes during aggression among juvenile pheasants (Phasianus colchicus).”



Journal

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

Article Title

Hot-headed peckers: thermographic changes during aggression among juvenile pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)

Article Publication Date

10-Jan-2022

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Orogeny Fuels Spider Family Diversification in Asia

Orogeny Fuels Spider Family Diversification in Asia

September 28, 2025

Unveiling Cacna1e Splice Variants’ Functional Diversity

September 28, 2025

Key Genes Uncovered for Banana Blood Disease Resistance

September 28, 2025

Streptococcus anginosus Found Across Female Urogenital Sites

September 28, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    85 shares
    Share 34 Tweet 21
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    73 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • Scientists Discover and Synthesize Active Compound in Magic Mushrooms Again

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • How Donor Human Milk Storage Impacts Gut Health in Preemies

    54 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Addressing Frailty and Polypharmacy in Elderly Home Care

Unplanned, Premature Births Outside Hospital Present Critical Challenges for Emergency Responders

Hypnosis Enhances Comfort of Ventilation Masks for Patients with Respiratory Issues

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 63 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.