Which is true?
The Headlines:
- City Council In Oklahoma Approves New City Motto: “It’s Probably Fine” (FAKE)
- High School Bans Glitter After Prom Cleanup Costs Exceeded Gym Budget (FAKE)
- Researchers Have Found That Songbirds Sometimes Get Divorced (REAL)
Researchers at Oxford University found that Great Tit songbirds sometimes "divorce" their partners at the end of breeding season instead of staying together through the winter. Adelaide Abraham, a PhD student who led the study, used tiny radio tags to track the birds in woods near Oxford. The tags would ping when birds visited research feeders, showing which birds spent time together. In spring, Great Tit couples mate and work together to feed their babies. After the chicks leave in summer, some couples keep hanging out at feeders together through winter, while others drift apart. The divorced birds start spending less time together right away and continue growing apart as winter goes on. Abraham says this shows that social behavior is hugely important for animals, not just humans. Abraham notes the birds aren't really getting divorced like humans, but there's more drama happening in bird flocks than people might think.