QUESTION OF THE MONTH
WHERE DOES THE CUCKOO LEARN ITS TERRIBLE BEHAVIOUR?
ROBERT GREEN, VIA EMAIL
Cuckoos are master manipulators. After laying a solo egg in the nest of another species, female cuckoos abandon their offspring to the care of others. When the interloper hatches, it boots out any other eggs or hatchlings present, then tricks its foster parents into feeding it more by imitating a whole nest of chicks. The host birds then raise the chick as their own. It’s a strategy known as brood parasitism, but how do they know to adopt this strategy, when they’re raised without cuckoo role models?