AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

Chick Recognition and Acceptance: A Weakness in Magpies Exploited by the Parasitic Great Spotted Cuckoo

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:1995
Authors:Soler, M, Soler, JJosé, Martínez, JGabriel, MØLLER, ANDERSPAPE
Journal:Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume:37
Issue:4
Date Published:1995
ISBN Number:03405443
Keywords:Clamator, Clamator glandarius, Corvidae, Cuculidae, Cuculus, Cuculus canorus, Pica, Pica pica
Abstract:Hosts of brood parasites have evolved the ability to discriminate non-mimetic and even mimetic eggs, but not non-mimetic chicks. Here we demonstrate that the great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius does not provide its magpie Pica pica host with a supernormal stimulus that helps to avoid recognition, because single cuckoo chicks introduced into otherwise unparasitized magpie nests are not fed at a higher frequency than single magpie chicks introduced to parasitized magpie nests. Another series of experiments demonstrated that magpies have the ability to discriminate cuckoo chicks, mainly when these are introduced at the end of the nestling period, and especially when the cuckoo chick together with a magpie chick is presented to adult magpies outside the nest. This supports the idea that cuckoos exploit the obligatory reaction of magpies to feed all young that have been hatched in their nests and whose "signatures" they have learnt. Furthermore, the experimental cuckoo chicks in parasitized magpie nests were more likely to be accepted than they were in non-parasitized nests. This supports the hypothesis that magpies may learn to recognise their own nestlings as those present in the nest and may indicate that a comparison between cuckoo and magpie nestlings is the basis of discrimination.
URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/4601134
Short Title:Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Taxonomic name: 
Clamator (Birds), Corvidae (Birds), Cuculidae (Birds), Cuculus (Birds), Cuculus canorus (Birds), Cuculus canorus (Birds), Pica (Birds), Pica pica (Birds)
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith