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National Geographic : 1974 Mar
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On the day before disaster struck, the ill-fated mate of Kamikaze flies in from the "plucking perch," a dining spot on a nearby limb. The following day the Snyders discovered her remains at the foot of the nesting tree (below, left); she had perished in the talons of a marauder-possibly a goshawk or great horned owl. Kamikaze, here moving off the pair's four eggs, then tried to carry on alone as both father and mother. In rare fashion, he attempted to incubate the eggs until they hatched. Lacking the female's bare egg-warming breast patch, he failed; the chicks, already peeping in the shells, died. From tragedy, knowledge: After Kamikaze's failure, the Snyders stripped away the shells and studied the fully developed embryos (right). Here and in other unhatched eggs, they con sistently found traces of DDE, a breakdown product of DDT. The contaminant causes the birds to lay thin-shelled, easily broken eggs, and may trigger disastrous hormonal changes that affect feeding and mating instincts. 436
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