Publication
Title
Moorhens have an internal representation of their own eggs
Author
Abstract
How do birds recognize their own eggs? Do they have a stored template for their own egg characteristics, or do they use another mechanism? Intraspecific brood parasitism is considered to be an additional reproductive tactic where females can increase their own reproductive success. Because of the costs involved in rearing young that are not their own, it will pay females to detect and reject the eggs of a parasite, although it is not known how they do this. Here, we show experimentally that moorhens will cease laying in a nest when their first egg is replaced with another hens egg but not when it is replaced with their own egg taken from an earlier clutch. This provides good evidence that birds have an internal representation of their own eggs and use this in decisions about whether to reject foreign eggs.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Die Naturwissenschaften / Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften [München] - Berlin, 1913, currens
Publication
Berlin : Springer , 2009
ISSN
0028-1042 [print]
1432-1904 [online]
DOI
10.1007/S00114-008-0486-5
Volume/pages
96 :3 (2009) , p. 405-407
ISI
000263782800010
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 02.03.2009
Last edited 25.05.2022
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