Beak height and nest structure shape avian bite force
Si-Dan Lin, Xiao-Dong Rao, Wei Liang · 2026
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Description
Si-Dan Lin, Xiao-Dong Rao, and Wei Liang measure what makes a bird's bite strong. Bite force shapes prey capture, defense, and competition, yet broad cross-species data on birds were scarce. The team measured bite force and related traits in 175 bird species. Beak depth tracked bite force more strongly than the rest of the skull shape did.
Merging new data with published values gave 223 species for evolutionary models. Body mass mattered, as expected from size scaling. Nest structure also stood out: species that build more elaborate nests bite harder. The pattern supports the nest-complexity hypothesis, which links nest building demands to stronger beaks and bites.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Si-Dan Lin, Xiao-Dong Rao, Wei Liang |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 39 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |