Today is spring ploughing festival in many parts of China. In some fields in southern China, people began to farm for the first time this year. If you want to, maybe you can see the following scene in the paddy field: the buffalo is walking or farming, the Starling is following the buffalo, or simply standing on their back. As for buffalo, they always use their big tails to drive away the flies that fall on them, but they don't take the rude behavior of Starling seriously. What is the reason?
Starling is a common bird in South China and Southeast Asia. Its feathers are mainly black, and there are two white spots on its wings. When it is unfolded, it is' eight ', which is very striking. This is also the origin of their names. Although starling is not outstanding in appearance, it has a well-developed singing tube and changeable calls. It is often caught as a cage bird.
White collar starling standing on the back of cattle
The feeding habits of starlings are complex, mainly eating fruits and small invertebrates. In the breeding period, in order to increase the body's protein nutrition, the proportion of animal food will increase. However, grasshopper, locust, moth and other insects like to stay in the farmland or the place with dense plants in the water, which is not easy to catch. In the long-term evolution, starlings have found that when buffaloes move around in the farmland, the movement is often very big, which will startle these small insects. As long as starling follows the buffalo, or stands on the back of the ox, waiting for the flying insects, he can easily enjoy the rich food. While eating, Starling can also help water buffalo drive away unwanted insects such as mosquitoes and flies. Therefore, the buffalo does not hate the myna on its back, because it is a mutually beneficial cooperative relationship between them.
This kind of cooperation is common in nature. In addition to starlings, starlings of Starling family, starlings of white-collar family and egrets of heron family also like to stay around Buffalo or stand on the back of cattle for food. These birds help control the number of insects in the fields and are popular with farmers.