You can check out even more beak shapes! Hawaiian Honey Creepers of the WorldAren’t these birds beautiful? They are the honeycreeper birds of Hawaii. The geography of the islands and effects of environmental changes over many, many years have encouraged the development of over 50 subspecies of theses beautiful birds. Depending on where they live, they all have developed a special beak for eating foods in that specific area. Look at these birds and compare the beaks of the honeycreepers and the foods that they eat.
Roll your mouse over the pictures to see if you are correct.
Recall that natural selection is the evolution or changes in a population that occur when organisms have a special trait that helps them survive better in their environment. These organisms are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass on this favorable characteristic.
The honeycreeper birds that had the beak shape that was the most helpful in getting food were more successful and reproduced more. Consider this…. If the bird drank nectar from down inside flowers, the longer the beak the better they could get to the nectar. Because of this advantage, the birds with the longer beaks lived longer and reproduced more. Over many years the birds would develop longer beaks because genes for longer beaks were passed on more often than genes for shorter beaks.
You can check out even more beak shapes! Hawaiian Honey Creepers of the World
Many of the honeycreeper birds of Hawaii are extinct and many are becoming endangered because their feathers are in demand by many of the native Hawaiians. The bright red and orange feathers are prized for making feather capes, headdresses, and other ornaments. Perhaps natural selection will now favor the more secretive birds or the ones with less colorful feathers in response to the increase in the predator’s population.