[wisb] American Coots thwart nest invaders and kill their chicks
- From: Matt Mendenhall <mmendenhall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Wisbirdn <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Birdchat <BIRDCHAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:12:02 -0600
Hello everyone,
New research published this week in the journal Nature shows that the American
Coot's reproductive life is full of deception and violence.
Dai Shizuka and Bruce Lyon of UC Santa Cruz report that coot parents can tell
the difference between their own chicks and any impostors that manage to hatch
in their nest, and they will violently reject most impostor chicks.
Their paper is available only to Nature subscribers. The abstract is here:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08655.html
I've summarized the research in a new post on our blog and have included a
stunning photo by Lyon showing an adult coot attacking a chick.
http://bit.ly/coot_research
--
Matt Mendenhall
Associate Editor, Birder's World
http://www.birdersworld.com
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- » [wisb] American Coots thwart nest invaders and kill their chicks - Matt Mendenhall
