That humans can behave deceptively is well-known. Commonly, it is attributed to our mental capacity and ‘theory of mind’. This makes evidence of intentional deceptive behaviour in the realm of other animals particularly intriguing. For the science ramble this month, let’s look at birds performing the act of a broken wing to defend their nests against predators.

Further resources

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Paper covered in this episode: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.0058

A recent general review about distraction displays in birds: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ibi.12814