SABINA CIEŚLA-NOBIS¹ (author of photographs)
IZABELLA FRANIEL² (project manager)

¹ Silesian (Zoo) Zoological Garden,
Różana 2, 41-501 Chorzów
e-mail: sabinaciesla@akk.net.pl

²University of Silesia,
Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Department of Ecology;
Bankowa 9, 40-007 Katowice

Description popularizing the research project

In the famous Aesop's fable the Fox said to his guest, the Stork “I am sorry, the soup is not to your liking.". In fact the soup was in a very shallow dish. It was not a problem for the Fox as he could easily lap it out, but the Stork could only wet the end of her long bill. The moral of the story is “One bad turn deserves another.", but 25 centuries later Charles Darwin added a new thought “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.". Both of the quotes have something in common and it is a bird's bill. Aesop proved that a stork may dine putting its bill into a long-necked jar. Darwin showed that these were food habits which determined the shape and functioning of the bills among the birds inhabiting Galapagos islands, which are known as Darwin's finches.
Everybody who even once tried to hammer a nail will know how important it is to chose the right tool. It is hard to tear meat with a flat bill. It is even harder to sieve a serving of seaweed with a hook-like one, to reach into the heart of a flower with a short and straight one or to get wood-eating grubs from under bark with a long pointed one. There are as many kinds of beaks as there are birds and each of them is a highly specialized tool. Even an amateur being asked a question “whose beak is it?" is able to match it to a given bird. But eating is not the only activity which can be performed with a beak. It can be a lever and a forklift when a nest is being built. It can serve as a bayonet and a dagger during fierce territory fights or when laid eggs are endangered. Moreover the young's open beaks are like signaling lights which show parents where they should place the load of food. It is also a source of sounds, a comb, and a precise manipulator when Corvidae operate sticks or pieces of a string.
Aesop's morale and Darwin's theory will last for centuries and it turns out they supplement each other perfectly in their educational role when they refer to this peculiar pair of toothless jaws covered by

Abstract

Zoos are institutions which, apart from their crucial role in maintaining animal species diversity in the world, have an important educational function to fulfil.
Included within the projects carried out by Department of Ecology at University of Silesia is the one concerned with the problem of the adaptation of animal organisms to different types of environment. The pedagogical perspective of the present project is to demonstrate students the diversity of birds' bills, whose basic structural pattern has been adapted, in the course of evolution, to a diversity of food and habitats.
Owing to the participation of Sabina Cieśla-Nobis, PhD, an expert in animal breeding, the cooperation of University of Silesia with the Silesian Zoological Gardens, as well as the Zoos in Poznań and Opole, has made it possible to pursue the educational objectives.
The great diversity of bird bill forms is primarily considered to be a result of adaptation to various nourishment habits and ways of obtaining food or prey. The bills of variety of fowl-like birds are capable of handling plant seeds of different sizes or continental invertebrates. On the other hand, birds such as swifts, swallows etc. basically feed on aeroplantktonic organisms. These birds have markedly short bills and their mouth orifices are relatively wide, enabling them to prey on airborne insects. The curved bills of diurnal species of birds of prey and owls, surrounded with the face disc, make it possible for those birds to morsel their prey (rodents or other birds).
Aspects of maintaining biodiversity such as fostering young individuals, rehabilitation of animals allowing them to return to natural habitats or reintroducing endangered species - are all issues to become part of the syllabus for any graduate student at the faculty (of Biology and Environment Protection).