Song of the White-lumbar Thrush Copsychus Malabaricus

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view	Shama-thrush black	Copsychus niger	Sharpe	1877
genus	Shama-thrush (Slavka magpie)	Copsychus	Wagler	1827
family	Flycatchers	Muscicapidae	Vigors	1825
superfamily	Flycatchers	Muscicapoidea
infraorder	Passerines	Passerida
suborder / suborder	Singers	Oscines
detachment / order	Passerines	Passeriformes
superorder / superorder	New Sky Birds (Typical Birds)	Neognathae	Pycroft	1900
infraclass	Real birds (Fan-tailed birds)	Neornithes	Gadow	1893
subclass	Cilegrud Birds (Fan-tailed Birds)	Carinatae Ornithurae (Neornithes) Ornithurae (Neornithes)	Merrem	1813
class	Birds	Aves
superclass	Four-legged	Tetrapoda	Broili	1913
subtype / subdivision	Vertebrates (Cranial)	Vertebrata (Craniata)	Cuvier	1800
type / department	Chordates	Chordata
supertype	Coelomic animals	Coelomata
section	Bilaterally symmetrical (Three-layer)	Bilateria (Triploblastica)
suprasection	Eumetazoi	Eumetazoa
subkingdom	Multicellular animals	Metazoa
kingdom	Animals	Animalia
super-kingdom	Nuclear	Eukaryota	Chatton	1925
empire	Cellular

Interspecific bird conflicts are explained by competition and hybridization

Many animals jealously guard their territory from the invasion of strangers. This is logical when it comes to a representative of its own species. However, an individual belonging to a different species often becomes the object of attack. For a long time, it was believed that such interspecific territoriality was just a by-product of intraspecific territoriality. In other words, the owner attacks the stranger by mistake, mistaking him for a relative.

However, new evidence suggests that protecting an area from other species is adaptive. It can arise and persist when different species compete for a particular resource, such as food or shelter.

A team of zoologists led by Jonathan P. Drury of the University of Durham conducted a massive study of interspecies competition for territory using the example of North American passerines. After analyzing the literature, scientists found that this behavior is typical for 104 of their species. This is 32.3 percent of the total number of passerine species in North America. Thus, interspecies competition is more widespread than previously thought.

According to the authors, in most cases, birds come into conflict over territory with a representative of one specific species. There are several factors that increase the chances of forming a pair of competing species. For example, birds that live in the same biotope, have similar sizes and nest in hollows are more likely to be involved in conflicts over territory. For species belonging to the same family, another factor plays an important role - the probability of hybridization. If two species are capable of interbreeding, their males are more likely to react aggressively to each other.

Based on the data obtained, the researchers concluded that interspecific conflicts for territory among birds do not arise at all by mistake. This behavior is an adaptive response to competition for a limited resource, as well as a mechanism to prevent hybridization between closely related species.