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Truffle-Hunting Birds
Birds following their nose to a delicacy!
© Haplochromis CC
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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BirdNote®
Truffle-Hunting Birds
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
[Patagonia soundscape with Chucao Tapaculo]
With their excellent sense of smell, pigs are renowned for sniffing out truffles, a fungus that grows underground and is prized for its taste. [Pig snort] But it turns out that some bird species can also find their way to a truffle treat.
[Chucao Tapaculo song]
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. The researchers examined the droppings of two common birds, the Chucao Tapaculo and the Black-throated Huet-Huet. They found truffle DNA in many of the samples, suggesting that truffles are a staple of the birds’ diet.
The findings suggest that birds, not just mammals, often eat truffles. Some of the fungi species eaten by the Patagonian birds look like berries that grow locally, which might help birds see them better.
[Chucao Tapaculo song]
After all, the truffles benefit from birds eating them: the birds spread the fungal spores in their droppings, helping the fungi reach new areas.
Birds haven’t yet won a reputation as prized truffle-hunters… but maybe someday.
[Chucao Tapaculo song]
For BirdNote, I’m Ariana Remmel.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Chucao Tapaculo ML217463 recorded by N. Areta and Chucao Tapaculo ML 202464171 recorded by P.A. Pla.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote August 2022 / September 2024 Narrator: Ariana Remmel
ID# truffles-01-2022-08-05 truffles-01
References: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)01413-5
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211028120347.htm
PDF: https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2021/nrs_2021_caiafa_001.pdf
Conor Gearin
Writer