Truffle-Hunting Birds

BirdNote Daily

With their excellent sense of smell, pigs are renowned for sniffing out truffles, a fungus that grows underground and is prized for its taste. But it turns out that some bird species can also find their way to a truffle treat. Researchers working in the Patagonia region of Chile had noticed truffles with little beak-sized bite marks, and even watched a bird eat a truffle. They found truffle DNA in the birds’ droppings, suggesting that truffles are a staple of the birds’ diet. Some of the fungi species eaten by the Patagonian birds look like berries that grow locally, which might help birds see them better.

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