Monday, 28 December 2020

Swan Power

Mute swans pair bond closely. This was, apparently, the cause of several trains being delayed on the Kassel to Gottingen line, in Germany, at Fuldatal (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/swan-song-german-firefighters-remove-mourning-swan-blocking-railway-line). One swan appeared to be 'mourning' its partner, who had been killed whilst flying into the overhead electricity lines that powered the trains. The mourning swan sat on the rail tracks, until both it and its partner's body were removed by police and fire-fighters. The story is treated somewhat anthropomorphically but pair bonds are important to swans and many other bird species.
-

1 comment:

Paul Brain said...

Just a clarification. It is quite common for a member of a pair bond to spend time in the vicinity of its dead mate (in this case, caught in the overhead wires) but describing it as 'mourning' is sticking a human interpretation on it.

29 December 2020 at 07:10

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Fusion: Confusion?

  Nuclear fusion involves light elements, like hydrogen, being combined under pressure, with a massive release of energy. It's basically...