Dr Michelle Dickinson talks about a newly invented word for a newly discovered phenomena this week.

"Kleptotrichy" is the word that has been given to the relatively new behaviour seen where birds pluck hairs from live animals.

Hair from dogs, raccoons and even humans have long been found in the nests of birds, but for a long time scientists assumed that birds had collected hair that had been shed or scavenged from caresses.

But a new study, published in the journal Ecology shows that several species of bird, including chickadees and titmice, don’t just scavenge hair, they steal it straight from the living mammals, including humans.

But in a twist, this is something non-scientists have known for a long time, so for this study scientists have used YouTube videos to collect their data rather than study the phenomenon in the wild.

LISTEN ABOVE