Obligate avian brood parasites lay their eggs in nests of other species (hosts), which raise parasitic young. Parasitic nestlings are likely to influence host's parental behaviours as they typically beg for food more ...

Interspecific brood parasites exploit the parental care of host species. This exploitation entails fitness costs for the hosts, which favor the evolution of antiparasitic defenses. Host defenses select for counter-defenses ...

When parasitism is defined, it is customary to emphasize that it is about an inter-specific relation, i.e., between individuals of two different species. Here we critically examine that assumption and we turn to the concept ...

The hosts of brood parasitic birds are under strong selection pressure to recognize and remove foreign eggs from their nests, but parasite eggs may be too large to be grasped whole and too strong to be readily pierced by ...

Interspecific avian brood parasites have to solve unique problems associated with their reproductive habit: they need to recognize potential hosts, search for and locate their nests, monitor nests progress and return to ...

Some brood parasites kill all their host's offspring shortly after hatching, whereas others are tolerant and are reared in mixed host-parasite broods. This difference may arise because nestling parasites face a "provisions ...

Brood parasites lay thick-shelled eggs and numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain the significance of this trait. We examined whether thick eggshells protect the parasite egg during laying events. We used eggs ...

For many hosts of brood-parasitic birds, their frontline of defence is to mob adult parasites that approach the nest. Mobbing is commonly interpreted as an adaptation to prevent the parasite from laying, although to date ...

Introduction: The monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) is a widespread invasive species native to southern South America that has become established in many regions of the world. Monk parakeets breed in a large, fully ...