News tagged with brood parasitism

Parasite arms race spurs color change in bird eggs

The eggs laid by two African bird species have evolved different color patterns over a period of just 40 years, according to new research published in The American Naturalist. The quick change appears to be ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Natural born killers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Only a few days old and still blind and naked, chicks of the African greater honeyguide kill their newly hatched foster siblings in order to eliminate competition for parental care, new research from the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 07, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Cuckoo chicks in Zebra finches

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some female zebra finches foist a part of their eggs on their neighbours. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen discovered that in every fifth nest there is one ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 22, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Birds use social learning to enhance nest defense

Reed warblers live with the threat that a cuckoo bird will infiltrate their nest, remove one of their eggs, and replace it with the cuckoo's own. This 'parasitism' enables the cuckoo to have its young raised by unsuspecting ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 04, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Birds' strategic mobbing fends off parasitic invaders

Reed warblers use mobbing as a front line of nest defense against parasitic cuckoos, according to a new report published online on January 29th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. Cuckoos act as parasites by lay ...

Biology /

created Jan 29, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0