Madrid - A particular bird species favours bright-coloured offspring over modest-looking chicks, Spanish researchers said Tuesday. Great tits (Parus major), 14-centimetre-long birds common throughout Europe and Asia, feed bright-coloured chicks the best, according to a study by the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations (CSIC) published in the journal Nature.
Chicks whose feathers reflected ultra-violet light the best were the most likely to find mates and to perpetrate the species, explained Ismael Galvan, who headed the research team.
