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Getting the Bill – Taste, Touch and Smell in Birds

10,000 Birds

Whilst catfish have around 100,000 taste buds, rabbits around 17,000 and humans approximately 9,000, birds rarely exceed 100 of these receptors. Birds use rectal bristles (at the base of the bill) and tiny touch factories called Herbst corpuscles to detect touch. Let’s talk about taste. Ducks are the avian leaders of bill touch.

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The Gap Between Wildlife and the Animal Rights Movement

10,000 Birds

The animal rights movement is (rightly) closely associated with protesting things like factory farming, dogfighting, etc…basically, the mistreatment of animals. Rats had previously preyed on eggs and young of practically every defenseless seabird on the island, and had taken to even attacking adult albatross as they sat on their nests.