Finches can lose weight without dieting or exercising

INSIDE JEB Finches can lose weight without dieting or exercisingCarrying around a few extra pounds might not seem like a big deal to most.While it's important for humans and other mammals to maintain a healthy body weight, it may be even more important for birds.Flying becomes more difficult if the birds are heavy: they are less manoeuvrable and unable to accelerate as quickly, leaving them vulnerable to predators.Conversely, being too light could leave them vulnerable to starvation if food becomes scarce.But how birds sense and then adjust their weight so that they can fly but not starve remains a mystery.To unravel this question, Brett Hodinka and Tony Williams of Simon Fraser University, Canada, teamed up with Lewis Halsey of the University of Roehampton, UK, to see if zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) lose weight by behaving differently when they suddenly find themselves heavier than before.