Imagine a bare, windswept island just off the eastern coast of China: no vegetation, no shelter, nothing, not even a bird in sight. In 2013, a small team of scientists quietly covered it with plastic decoys and hidden speakers, then waited. According to a study published in the journal Biological Conservation , that improvised set-up was meant to help one of the rarest seabirds in existence: the Chinese crested tern. The results of the experiment were rather unexpected, even for researchers who planned it.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
