UK great tits may be adapting their beaks to birdfeeders

A British enthusiasm for feeding birds may have caused UK great tits to have evolved longer beaks than their European counterparts, according to new research. The findings, published in Science, identify for the first time the genetic differences between UK and Dutch great tits which researchers were then able to link to longer beaks in UK birds.

This demonstrates how even minor biodiversity enhancements can have a marked impact on our local wildlife, sustaining bird populations that may have fallen elsewhere due to changes in land management practices.

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