Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: neilep on 05/04/2011 13:46:32
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OK ewe got the Reed Warbler yes ?..a really cute tiny bird smaller than a Sparrow !
...Ewe then got a Cuckoo !...much larger but very clever/sneaky......
The Cuckoo egg looks similar to the Reed Warblers egg in appearance and size !...the size thing is very clever/cunning because the Cuckoo is so much larger and thus a comparably sized bird would lay much larger eggs !
OK..so the Reed Warbler is fooled by the appearance and size of the Cuckoo egg. The Cuckoo lays it's egg to time so that it hatches before the Reed Warblers eggs hatch......Thus, when the baby Cuckoo hatches it pushes the Reed Warblers eggs out of the nest.
Here's more klevur stuff !..the cheating continues.......the baby Cuckoo mimics the sound of the baby Reed Warbler so much more so..... that the Reed Warblers feed the baby cuckoo at a highly charged rate.
So,ewe have an egg that looks similar and a baby Cuckoo that somehow has an innate knowledge to mimic the call of the baby reed warbler ..OK ?...with me on this ?
OK...take a look at this picture.
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The baby cuckoo is a giant compare to it's foster parents who still think it's their baby !!
Three questions : How Does The Cuckoo Know It Is A Cuckoo ?
and after going to so much trouble to replicate an egg that looks similar in size and appearance and then the mimicry of the baby Reed Warbler...How Come The Reed Warblers Are Not Phased By The Obvious Appearance Of The Baby Cuckoo ?
How Does The Baby Cuckoo Learn To Mimic The Reed Warbler Cry ?
whajafink ?
Ta
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The matching egg and matching cry came about through natural selection : they are innate, not learned, characteristics.
If the cuckoo chick has kicked the other eggs out of the nest before they hatched it can’t have learned what the warbler chicks sound like, so it’s warbler-like cry must be innate.
The cuckoo’s parasitical behaviour will also be innate, it doesn’t have to learn how to be a cuckoo,
If female it may learn (imprint) the “host” species (whose eggs it matches).
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Thanks RD....very helpful and greatly appreciated....
.............but what about the fact that the Reed Warblers readily accept their mammoth non-Reed Warbler looking chick ?
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What an Interesting & Intriguing question.
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To followup on the OP...
Has anybody ever Observed the Cuckoo inside a genuine Cuckoo nest being fed by actual biological Cuckoo parents?
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1) Does the newborn Cuckoo still destroy other original cuckoo eggs irrespective of what breed they belong to?
(That is destroying it's real siblings)
2) Does the newborn Cuckoo still mimic other bird breeds tweeting sounds, irrespective of having it's actual cuckoo parents around?
3) What is the behaviours showcased when a single different breed egg is placed in a cuckoo parents nest, do they consider it as their Own, do they still feed it despite of differences in tweeting sounds, shape & size ?
4) Have the above experiments never been performed in a controlled environment ever?
Watcha tink???
🐣
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To followup on the OP...
Has anybody ever Observed the Cuckoo inside a genuine Cuckoo nest being fed by actual biological Cuckoo parents?
🤔
According to Britain’s foremost expert on Cuckoo behaviour, Dr Nicholas Davies of the University of Cambridge, Cuckoo parents do not build their own nests and lay their own eggs in them. They are entirely parasitic.
That probably answers the rest of your questions
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Unfortunately...Yes it does answer all my questions & queries.
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Wasn't expecting this...Not satisfied either...but perhaps there are limits to behavioural studies conducted in a controlled environment.
😔
Hope someday someone could do something extraordinary about this...until then...Peace ☮️
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P.S. - (i feel lyk a Cuckoo meself)
😏
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Cuckoo eggs might have evolved to fool other birds into incubating them.
But when the cuckoo eggs hatch out, and produce nestlings which soon grow to sizes enormously bigger than the supposed "parent" birds, why don't the "parents" catch on that something is wrong? Then desert the nest, and fly away.
If all birds did that, wouldn't the cuckoo bluff soon be called. And genetically extinguished. How have cuckoos got away with it for millions of years. Are birds daft?
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Are birds daft?
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birdbrain
/ˈbəːdbreɪn/
nounINFORMAL
a silly or stupid person.
Though, to be fair, looking after the chicks is a very strongly selected trait.
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If we didn't keep producing "chicks", to transmit our genes into transient future bodies, mightn't we get the genes to stick to the present bodies. And so make our bodies, live forever
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wouldn't the cuckoo bluff soon be called. And genetically extinguished. How have cuckoos got away with it for millions of years. Are birds daft?
I vaguely recall hearing a study some years ago that showed cuckoos are quite vindictive.
Maybe the parents figured that if they raise the cuckoo this time, they might have better fortune next time?
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wouldn't the cuckoo bluff soon be called. And genetically extinguished. How have cuckoos got away with it for millions of years. Are birds daft?
I vaguely recall hearing a study some years ago that showed cuckoos are quite vindictive.
Maybe the parents figured that if they raise the cuckoo this time, they might have better fortune next time?
Do you mean, the parent birds were applying a policy of appeasement. Like: "Let's raise this cuckoo chick, then the cuckoos will be satisfied, and won't bother us again"?
Is this entirely absurd?