A team of scientists has discovered that endangered Cape gannets, which live and breed in large colonies in southern Africa, use unique dances that could show mates and neighbours where to find food.
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On Malgas Island, a flat landmass off South Africa’s Western Cape, Mukuzai Muyahamba scans the sky as thousands of Cape gannets circle overhead in a wheeling blur of white feathers, black tails, and yellow heads. But Muyahamba is waiting for a specific bird to return to its nest the one with a tiny GPS tag fitted to its leg. The tag was attached to record the gannet’s foraging patterns, and Muyahamba has a video camera trained on the bird’s nest to record its most captivating behavior: its dance.
All three species of gannets perform complex bill-fencing, preening, and head-bobbing rituals during mating, but also every time they return from a foraging trip at sea. Until recently, studies of these rituals, referred to collectively as a dance, have only considered their role in reproduction.