Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2019 15:43:44 GMT -5
City crows eating human leftovers show high cholesterol levels
People might not be the only ones suffering from cheeseburger-induced high cholesterol.
Burger remains and other foods thrown away by humans could be hurting American crows, too. Crows living in urban areas and subsisting on human leftovers have higher blood-cholesterol levels than their country cousins, according to research done by Hamilton College Assistant Professor of Biology Andrea Townsend and her colleagues.
The research was published recently in The Condor: Ornithological Applications, a scientific journal of the American Ornithological Society.
Townsend and her colleagues tested 140 crow nestlings in an urban-to-rural gradient in California, finding that the more urban the environment, the higher the crows’ blood-cholesterol levels.
They also fed McDonald’s cheeseburgers to a group of nestlings in rural New York and found that they ended up with higher blood cholesterol levels than their rural neighbors who had to scavenge for food.
What’s not clear, though, is whether all that cholesterol is actually bad for crows. Urban crows are more likely to die during their first three years of life, the study found, but not because of cholesterol. And the New York McCrows scored higher on measurements of body condition, researchers found.
“Despite all the bad press that it gets, cholesterol has benefits and serves a lot of essential functions,” Townsend said in a statement released by Hamilton College. “It’s an important part of our cell membranes and a component of some crucial hormones. We know that excessive cholesterol causes disease in humans, but we don’t know what level would be excessive in a wild bird.”
That doesn’t mean that feeding human food to birds or other wild animals, who haven’t evolved to eat processed food, is a good idea, Townsend cautioned.
“Feeding wild birds can be a great way to connect with nature and it can be a refreshing change to think that we’re doing something that helps animals out,” she said in the statement. “At the same time, though, I do worry that some of the foods that humans give to wild animals, and living in an urban environment in general, might not be good for their health.”
www.uticaod.com/news/20190908/city-crows-eating-human-leftovers-show-high-cholesterol-levels?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GHM_Daily_Newsletter&utm_content=GTDT_OD&utm_term=090819
I wonder if the new veggie burgers now served at Burger King and soon to be at McDonald's will impact this in a more positive approach.
People might not be the only ones suffering from cheeseburger-induced high cholesterol.
Burger remains and other foods thrown away by humans could be hurting American crows, too. Crows living in urban areas and subsisting on human leftovers have higher blood-cholesterol levels than their country cousins, according to research done by Hamilton College Assistant Professor of Biology Andrea Townsend and her colleagues.
The research was published recently in The Condor: Ornithological Applications, a scientific journal of the American Ornithological Society.
Townsend and her colleagues tested 140 crow nestlings in an urban-to-rural gradient in California, finding that the more urban the environment, the higher the crows’ blood-cholesterol levels.
They also fed McDonald’s cheeseburgers to a group of nestlings in rural New York and found that they ended up with higher blood cholesterol levels than their rural neighbors who had to scavenge for food.
What’s not clear, though, is whether all that cholesterol is actually bad for crows. Urban crows are more likely to die during their first three years of life, the study found, but not because of cholesterol. And the New York McCrows scored higher on measurements of body condition, researchers found.
“Despite all the bad press that it gets, cholesterol has benefits and serves a lot of essential functions,” Townsend said in a statement released by Hamilton College. “It’s an important part of our cell membranes and a component of some crucial hormones. We know that excessive cholesterol causes disease in humans, but we don’t know what level would be excessive in a wild bird.”
That doesn’t mean that feeding human food to birds or other wild animals, who haven’t evolved to eat processed food, is a good idea, Townsend cautioned.
“Feeding wild birds can be a great way to connect with nature and it can be a refreshing change to think that we’re doing something that helps animals out,” she said in the statement. “At the same time, though, I do worry that some of the foods that humans give to wild animals, and living in an urban environment in general, might not be good for their health.”
www.uticaod.com/news/20190908/city-crows-eating-human-leftovers-show-high-cholesterol-levels?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GHM_Daily_Newsletter&utm_content=GTDT_OD&utm_term=090819
I wonder if the new veggie burgers now served at Burger King and soon to be at McDonald's will impact this in a more positive approach.