Nature of the cuckoo duck - David Attenborough - BBC wildlife
Common Cuckoo chick ejects eggs of Reed Warbler out of the nest.David Attenborough's opinion
newbord brood parasite
Brood parasites is a bird or insect that lays their eggs in another species nest so they host parent of the nest can raise their young.
When looking at coevolution, there are many theories about brood parasites. In an article by Redondo (1993), he looks at chick mimicry and why few species have evolved chick mimicry. One belief is that the brood parasite arms race is continuing because adoptive parents cannot discriminate between their real or invading species (Redondo, 1993). Another is that it involves no parental care and allows for the biological parent to increase the number of young they can lay because there is no time commitment (Petrie & Moller, 1991). The offspring of the biological parent will even disperse the adopted parents’ eggs.
Some examples are Cuckoo’s, Coot’s and Cow birds.
There are many other videos out there.
What do you think are the positives and negatives to being the biological parent?
Petrie, M. & A. Moller. (1991). Laying eggs in others' nests: Intraspecific brood parasitism in birds. 6(10). 315-320.
Redondo, T.(1993). Exploitation of host mechanism for parental care by avian brood parasites. Etología 3. 235-297.