Horsfield's hawk-cuckoo nestlings simulate multiple gapes for begging.
Nestlings of some brood parasitic birds evict hosts' eggs and young soon after hatching, thereby avoiding discrimination by hosts while monopolizing parental care. Eviction carries a cost, however, because lone parasitic nestlings attract a reduced provisioning rate. Here we describe a form of visual signaling used by the evicting Horsfield's hawk-cuckoo (Cuculus fugax) to obtain sufficient food. The chick displays a gape-colored patch on the wing to the host parents as they deliver food, simulating the gaping display of more than one nestling.
Tanaka
Keita D
KD
Department of Life Sciences, Rikkyo University, 3-34-1 Nishi-Ikebukuro, Toshima, 171-8501 Tokyo, Japan. keita@zaf.att.ne.jp
Ueda
Keisuke
K
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001717:Birds / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D016014:Linear Models; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D010858:Pigmentation; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
D004396:Coloring Agents