...and beware the flying arsonists

FOR millennia, we have assumed that early man created fire.

So the news that birds of prey can learn to control fire — and might even have used it before cavemen — is a surprise.

Species such as falcons appear to be deliberately spreading wildfires, by picking up burning twigs from existing blazes and dropping them elsewhere, to flush out their prey.

Ornithologist Bob Gosford said that Aboriginal rangers have seen spotted black kites, whistling kites and brown falcons starting new fires.

That’s ruffled a few feathers!