Re: Subject: Bird hibernation/torpor

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

On Thu, 20 Mar 1997, ZooLady wrote:
> >        Refering back to the discussions on hibernation/torpr, the male Emu
> >will sit on his mate's eggs for many weeks. During this time he neither eats
> >nor drinks. 

And his temperature drops and his urine becomes concentrated.  Is it
_adaptationist_ of me to suggest he does this in order to keep the nest
site stealthy?  Are there alternate hypotheses for this behavior? 

>> We have a pair at my zoo so i have been able to observe this
> >behavior myself. He will do this even when there are no actual eggs to sit
> >on. This happens every year at the same time.


What zoo?  What time of the year?  Thanks in advance if you read this.
John Bois.