Why Some Hosts Reject Parasitic Cuckoo Eggs While Others Don’t

Plants and Animals





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Parasitic cuckoo. francesco de marco/shutterstock.com

Brood parasites like cuckoos and cowbirds famously and sneakily lay their eggs into the nests of other birds. And while some host birds reject the foreign eggs, not all species do. Researchers investigating why some birds don’t evict alien eggs reveal that it depends on how steep the costs are to the hosts. The findings were published in Biology Letters this week.