The Real-life Phoenix
Fans of the harry potter franchise will recognise the phoenix, a mythical bird with power over fire, the bird is said to burn itself to ashes when it gets too old and rises as a newly hatched chick so it can live forever.
These birds used to be only found in the imaginations of men but scientists in northern Australia may have made a discovery which brings these legendary birds to life. Whilst these birds may not be immortal they have certainly been shown to wield the power of fire.
An incredible behaviour in the raptors of Australia has recently been brought to the public's attention, Black kites (Milvus migrans) Whistling kites (Haliastur sphenurus) and Brown falcons (Falco berigora) have all be observed carrying flaming debris from wildfires in their talons and beaks to deliberately spread the fires.
The scientists observing these pyromaniacs suggest the reason for this behaviour is to spread the fire to locations they suspect prey are hiding to scare them out from the safety of the undergrowth. When these events occur hundreds of raptors have been seen lining up, creating a wall of birds perched in the trees, then some of the birds will fly off and start the fires in strategic places to scare the prey towards the waiting wall of hungry birds which will then pounce on the helpless prey.
Not only is this an incredible example of tool use this behaviour also shows that these birds usually thought of as solitary can come together and work as a team. These complicated behaviours show that these species may be as smart as other brainy birds like parrots and the members of the Corvidae family like crows and ravens.
The fact that these birds are utilizing fire is incredible as the only other animals we know that are capable of this feat are Humans.
Perhaps we should be more concerned about Planet of the raptors than Planet of the apes
Bonta, M., Gosford, R., Eussen, D., Ferguson, N., Loveless, E., & Witwer, M. (2017). Intentional Fire-Spreading by “Firehawk” Raptors in Northern Australia. Journal of Ethnobiology, 37(4), 700-718.