Drunk pigeons love to eat fruit

New Zealand Due to their habit of eating a lot of fruit and sunbathing, kereru birds can become drunk due to the fruit in their crop fermenting into alcohol.

Drunk pigeons love to eat fruit

The kereru bird with a penchant for fruit and drunkenness. Video : Guardian

The kereru ( Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae ) is a native pigeon of New Zealand, typically with a blue head and white breast, and is about 51 cm long.

Despite their beautiful round appearance and shiny fur, they are best known for their "drunk habits," IFL Science reported on November 29. This condition stems from their love of eating fruit. Specifically, eating fruit and then sunning themselves with crops full of easily fermentable organic matter.

Crops are part of the digestive system of some birds. All pigeons have cropping, and kereru are no exception. When fruit is plentiful, kereru will cram large amounts of food into their bodies using their expandable crop. This is an anatomical adaptation that allows them to consume large amounts of food quickly and store it while the rest of their digestive system processes the excess food.

The fruit is stuffed into the crop, giving the kereru a plump appearance after eating. However, they prefer to perch in sunny places. As a result, the warm fruit-filled crop can begin to ferment and produce alcohol. Humans would not get drunk in the same way because of their much larger bodies. But the tiny kereru bird can get drunk.

The Native Bird Rehabilitation Centre in Whangarei, New Zealand, received 60 drunk kereru in 2010. "They came in drunk. It was very strange that people would bring us dozens of drunk pigeons," said Robert Webb, manager at the centre.

The Kereru was voted New Zealand Bird of the Year 2018 by Forest and Bird. The Kereru is important to the New Zealand landscape. They are the only native bird with a beak large enough to eat some of the country's largest seed pods. As such, they play an important role in the dispersal of plant species.

Thu Thao (According to IFL Science )

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