Name Tim Birkhead | ||
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Born 20 February 1950 (age 74) ( 1950-02-20 ) Institutions Newcastle UniversityUniversity of OxfordUniversity of Sheffield Thesis Breeding biology and survival of guillemots (Uria aalge) (1976) Books The Red Canary, Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be, The Wisdom of Birds: An, The Magpies: The Ecol, Great Auk Islands; a Field Biol |
The wisdom of birds tim birkhead
Timothy Robert Birkhead FRS (born 28 February 1950) is a British zoologist, and professor of behaviour and evolution at the University of Sheffield.
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Education

Birkhead was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree from Newcastle University in 1972, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy from University of Oxford in 1976 on the Breeding biology and survival of guillemots Uria aalge and a Doctor of Science from Newcastle in 1989 with thesis titled Sperm competition and the behavioural ecology of birds.
Research

Birkhead's research falls into three main areas:


Birkhead has made important contributions to the field of behavioural ecology – the study of how animal behaviour evolves under the influence of environmental pressures. He also studies the competitive actions of male birds' sperm. He showed that extra-pair copulation – where the offspring raised by a pair are the result of the female mating with an outsider male – is common amongst birds. Tim also demonstrated the existence of 'guarding techniques', which are carried out by the male bird in a pair. In studies of the zebra finch, he revealed that the sperm of the last male to mate with a female took precedence for fertilising her eggs.
His 2016 book on birds' eggs, The Most Perfect Thing, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.