August 3, 2012

Cuckoo tricks to beat the neighbourhood watch




Cuckoo tricks to beat the neighbourhood watch

New research explains why female cuckoos have evolved different guises.

To minimise the chance of being recognised and thus attacked by the birds they are trying to parasitize, female cuckoos have evolved different guises.  The new research, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, was published today, 03 August, in the journal Science.

The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) lays its eggs in the nests of other birds.

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