Birds in Amazon turning smaller, longer-winged, courtesy climate change: Study

The climate change is real and has been affecting even the wildest parts of the Amazon untouched by humanity, said a study.   

Over the past four decades, hotter and drier conditions in the region have led to a reduction in the body size of the birds. But it has also resulted in an increase in their wingspans, a study, which was published in the journal 'Science Advances', said on Friday.   

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These alterations seem to be a response to nutritional and physiological challenges, especially in the June to November dry season.  

Vitek Jirinec, an ecologist at the Integral Ecology Research Center and the paper's lead author told AFP, "The biggest takeaway for me is that this is happening far from direct human disturbance, such as deforestation, in the heart of the world's biggest rainforest. That is something to ponder on the last day of COP26."    

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The data collected on over 15,000 birds, which were caught, weighed, measured and tagged in over 40 years of field work, was analysed by Jirinec and his colleagues.  

Nearly all the birds had become lighter since 1980s, found the researchers. Every decade, several species lost an average of two per cent body weight.  

(With inputs from agencies)