Being parasitised by a greater honeyguide is very bad news for a host – the young honeyguide stabs the host’s young to death with special bill hooks as soon as it hatches (more here). It’s therefore puzzling that little bee-eater hosts seem not to recognise and eject honeyguide eggs from their nests (more here). In this paper, we tested whether perhaps the sight of a female honeyguide (pictured) at the nest might give hosts a cue that they’re being parasitised and prompt them to defend themselves. The answer is that most bee-eaters seem bafflingly blithe! Read more in the original paper by Wenfei Tong, Nicholas Horrocks and Claire Spottiswoode, available open access in Ibis.
Gabriel Jamie gives seminar on the role of learning in speciation
What role does learning play in the origin of new species? As part of the "Network for the Integration of Speciation" research series, Dr Gabriel Jamie gave a seminar together with Professor Maria Servedio on learning, imprinting and speciation:...