Awesome adaptation against brood parasites

Nestling Superb Fairy-wrens learn unique begging calls from their mothers — before they even hatch. Researchers “conclude that wrens use a parent-specific password learned embryonically to shape call similarity with their own young and thereby detect foreign cuckoo nestlings.” In other words, the baby birds must chirp a secret password to be fed.

Share the birds, share the love!
This entry was posted in Aside, Behavior, Ornithology. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *