Now here's a clever design trick. Birds actively match the colour of their nests to their surroundings to blend in. To test if birds choose to camouflage their nests or whether they are well-camouflaged simply because of the colour of available building tools, like twigs and leaves, Ida Bailey and her team at the University of St Andrews, UK, performed a spot of redecorating. They wallpapered the cages of 21 male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) with a new colour - blue, pink or yellow -and offered the birds nesting materials in two colours, one that matched the wallpaper, and one that contrasted with it.
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