Evening Meeting: Good vibrations: The Ibises’ Sixth Sense – Speaker Carla du Toit.

Meet at 20h00 at the Nassau Centre, Groote Schuur High School, Palmyra Road, Newlands.

Carla is a PhD student at the FitzPatrick Institute. She is investigating the remarkable sensory organ in the beaks of ibises. By studying three of South Africa’s ibis species, researchers have been able to see links between the structure of this organ and the birds’ foraging behaviour and habitat. Work on modern birds has allowed them to make some interesting suggestions about the lifestyles of several fossil species, shedding light on how they lived millions of years ago. Carla’s presentation will describe the unusual and secretive ways of some of these very common native birds, and she will also explain a little about the work on their prehistoric predecessors.

Visitors and non – members, are very welcome, tea and biscuits are served afterwards.