Egg Hunt Arms Race

Episode 17 of the Fledgling Theories podcast, hosted by Ellie Roark & Willson Gaul, titled "Egg Hunt Arms Race" was published on July 17, 2019 and runs 29 minutes.

July 17, 2019 ·29m · Fledgling Theories

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Summary

Is there an evolutionary arms race between birds trying to hide eggs and birds trying to find eggs? If so, who is racing who? Brood parasites (like many species of Cowbird and Cuckoo) lay their eggs in other birds' nests to trick a host species into raising their chicks. It's easy to imagine that all the drama and competition arise from conflict between an unwilling host species and sneaky parasite. But what if the parasite birds' main competitors are other parasites? This month, we're chatting all about this nesting strategy and the possible evolutionary drivers of one parasite's stealth adaptations. Read the paper here: "Grey Gerygone hosts are not egg rejecters, but Shining Bronze-Cuckoos lay cryptic eggs," (Thorogood et al, 2017). This is part I of a two-part mini-series on brood parasites; check back in August for part II!

Episode Description

Is there an evolutionary arms race between birds trying to hide eggs and birds trying to find eggs? If so, who is racing who? Brood parasites (like many species of Cowbird and Cuckoo) lay their eggs in other birds' nests to trick a host species into raising their chicks. It's easy to imagine that all the drama and competition arise from conflict between an unwilling host species and sneaky parasite. But what if the parasite birds' main competitors are other parasites? This month, we're chatting all about this nesting strategy and the possible evolutionary drivers of one parasite's stealth adaptations. Read the paper here: "Grey Gerygone hosts are not egg rejecters, but Shining Bronze-Cuckoos lay cryptic eggs," (Thorogood et al, 2017).

This is part I of a two-part mini-series on brood parasites; check back in August for part II!

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