September 4, 2017
The common cuckoo, notorious for
evading parental duty by hiding her eggs in the nests of other brooding birds,
is even more devious than previously thought, scientists revealed on Monday.
After laying an egg, the female
distracts the owner of the nest—a reed warbler in this
case—essentially by frightening the poor bird out of its wits, they said.
The cuckoo gives a
"chuckle" that mimmicks the call of the sparrowhawk—which loves to
snack on warbler flesh—before abandoning her egg among the warbler's clutch and
flying off to freedom.
"This hawk-like chuckle call
increases the success of parasitism by diverting host parents' attention away
from the clutch and towards their own safety," a duo of Cambridge
University researchers wrote in the journal Nature Ecology &
Evolution.
"As a result, the female
cuckoo might have 'the last laugh' in this particular battle."
The bird whose behaviour gave us
the word "cuckoldry", is an example of a "brood
parasite"—birds, insects or fish that trick others into raising their
young.
This is often at the expense of
the foster parents' own offspring.
To avoid getting caught—which
will lead to the imposter egg being kicked out of the nest—the cuckoo has
developed some nifty tricks, including matching its egg colouring to that of
its target, for camouflage.
The bird has also adopted
"remarkable secrecy and speed" in depositing its egg, said the team.
For this reason, scientists have
battled to understand why the cuckoo would risk exposure by
"chuckling" so soon after committing its crime.
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