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Nathaniel Bowler's avatar

I wanted to see a Hoopoe so badly when I was in Portugal. You always add another dimension to the way we look at birds

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Maja Mielke's avatar

For me, the hoopoe is also still very high on my wish list. I've only seen one in the zoo here in Antwerp so far. But I'll keep my eyes and nose open! 😄

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Kelly C. Ballantyne's avatar

how fascinating! thank you for sharing this, Maja!

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Karen Povey's avatar

This is fascinating and new info for me - thanks for sharing! It reminds me of the antibiotic property of porcupine quills. One theory I heard is that they sometimes poke themselves so it offers them protection. I used to work with porcupines and can attest that this does happen! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24263588/

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Maja Mielke's avatar

Antibiotic porcupine quills? That is so cool, thanks for sharing this! I’m curious, what kind of work did you do with the porcupines?

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Karen Povey's avatar

My career was working in zoos, with a focus on ambassador animals. I’ve raised babies of so many taxa, including North American porcupines, African long crested porcupines and coendus.

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