--- title: Birds Will Choose Love Over Food, Study Shows description: Birds are willing to starve themselves to spend more time with their life partners, according to a new study canonical: https://time.com/4111891/birds-choose-love-over-food-study/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-13T18:25:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:10.465Z article:section: Science og:title: These Birds Choose Love Over Food og:description: Even when they're hungry og:url: https://time.com/4111891/birds-choose-love-over-food-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f2d0de5b1c546a5/698870f48e0601ebcd4634e4/gettyimages-175258107.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Great Tit (Parus major). Andujar, Jaen province, Andalusia, Spain og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Birds Choose Love Over Food twitter:description: Even when they're hungry twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f2d0de5b1c546a5/698870f48e0601ebcd4634e4/gettyimages-175258107.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Birds Choose Love Over Food ## Video: Question Everything: Is Love At First Sight Possible? [Watch (HLS stream): Question Everything: Is Love At First Sight Possible?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/B3W3oSRW.m3u8) (1:03)  _Published 2015-09-18. TIME hit the streets to ask New Yorkers several offbeat questions designed to provoke and prod the brain._ by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Nov 13, 2015 6:25 PM UTC  Great Tit (Parus major) Great Tit (Parus major)MyLoupe—UIG via Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Nov 13, 2015 6:25 PM UTC Birds are willing to starve themselves to spend more time with their life partners, according to a [new study](http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-11-13-wild-birds-choose-love-over-food). Scientists at the University of Oxford discovered that some birds are willing to forego food to stay near their partners during the winter months. The researchers used automated feeding stations to track the eating habits of great tits, a bird species. For each couple, one bird would only able to access certain stations, while its partner was only able to access others. However, researchers found that one bird would end up spending much of its time at its partner’s station even though it was locked out from accessing food there. ‘The choice to stay close to their partner over accessing food demonstrates how an individual bird’s decisions in the short term, which might appear sub-optimal, can actually be shaped around gaining the long-term benefits of maintaining their key relationships,” said research lead Josh Frith. These ride-or-die birds also were willing to spend extra time with their partners’ flock-mates, the study found. The results of the study were published in _Current Biology_. 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