Vibration Firms Mud Nest

Biological Strategy

Apostlebird

AskNature Team

Image: Benjamint444 / Wikimedia commons /

Physically Assemble Structure

Living systems use physical materials to create structures to serve as protection, insulation, and other purposes. These structures can be internal (within or attached to the system itself), such as cell membranes, shells, and fur. They can also be external (detached), such as nests, burrows, cocoons, or webs. Because physical materials are limited and the energy required to gather and create new structures is costly, living systems must use both conservatively. Therefore, they optimize the structures’ size, weight, and density. For example, weaver birds use two types of vegetation to create their nests: strong, a few stiff fibers and numerous thin fibers. Combined, they make a strong, yet flexible, nest. An example of an internal structure is a bird’s bone. The bone is comprised of a mineral matrix assembled to create strong cross-supports and a tubular outer surface filled with air to minimize weight.

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Birds

Class Aves (“bird”): Eagles, hawks, sparrows, parrots

Birds are evolutionary engineering marvels. They are descended from dinosaurs, but are far from our idea of heavy, scaly reptiles. Of the specific adaptions that set them apart, most notable is flight—although some mammals can fly, birds take the prize for abundance in the skies. Many birds have hollow, lightweight skeletons and specially-designed wings to help them stay aloft. They also have feathers made of keratin that help them stay warm, attract mates, and improve navigation and aerodynamics in flight. In contrast to their dinosaur ancestors, they lack true teeth and have replaced them with specialized beaks and bills.

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The mud nest of the apostlebird is a sturdy home high in the trees, built using a jiggled-mud construction technique.

Introduction

Apostlebirds, which are native to the woodlands of Australia, build large nests that can have walls up to 2.54 cm (1 in.) thick, weigh up to 2.3 kg (5 lb.), and be located as high as 15 m (50 ft.) above the ground. These nests are communally assembled out of mud and strengthened by grass, small sticks, fur, and feathers.

Image: Benjamint444 / Wikimedia commons /

Apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea) taken in central Australia.

Image: Benjamint444 / Wikimedia commons /

Apostlebird nest.jpg Apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea) nest, taken in central Australia

The Strategy

A nest must be able to resist sudden and intense movements caused by wind or other forces, so the birds enhance its security with a vibration-construction technique. Apostlebirds vibrate the supportive materials as they assemble a nest, which liquefies the mud so that it can forge a close bond between the materials. These birds also create a solid base for the nest by wrapping the mud around a supporting branch.

The Potential

Tamping of soil and mud is already a construction technique utilized by humans, such as in traditional tapia pisada buildings. By mimicking the techniques of the apostlebird, practitioners could bring out new or enhanced properties in their materials.

This strategy was co-contributed by EcoRise Youth Innovations

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Last Updated March 16, 2018

References

“Closely related to the magpie lark are two other Australian birds of the open forest, the apostle bird and white-winged chough. They build substantially larger nests, weighing up to five pounds, located as much as fifty feet above the ground. But even these scaled-up versions of the adobe cup with their inch-thick walls are manufactured with the same jiggled-mud strategy that seems to be universal among birds that build with wet earth. But then vibration is a key feature in the insertion of twigs and grasses into conventional nests, so this may be a bit of behavioral recycling.” (Gould and Gould 2007:185)

Book

Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence

06/03/2012 | Gould JL, Gould CG

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Reference

Journal article

The use of mud in nest-building--a review of the incidence and taxonomic importance

Ostrich, Journal of African Ornithology, 40(supp 1): 139-148 | 01/01/1969 | Rowley I

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Reference

Book

Bird nests and construction behavior

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press | 01/01/2000 | Hansell M

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Reference

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