Green eggs and scam: Cuckoo finch’s long con may be up | Malay Mail

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PARIS, April 14 — For two million years African cuckoo finches have been tricking other birds into raising their young by mimicking the colour of their eggs, but new research suggests the tables may be turning in this evolutionary scam. The cute yellow appearance of the cuckoo finch belies...

PARIS, April 14 — For two million years African cuckoo finches have been tricking other birds into raising their young by mimicking the colour of their eggs, but new research suggests the tables may be turning in this evolutionary scam.

Aiming to save their young from this grisly fate, birds like the African tawny-flanked prinia, a common victim of the ruse, have evolved ever more colourful and elaborate patterns for their eggs to avoid falling for counterfeits. His theory has been proved for the first time by a study published in the PNAS science journal this week, which confirmed that the skill is inherited via the W chromosome which only female birds have — similar to how only human males have the Y chromosome.

A single female cuckoo finch cannot produce an infinite variety of differently coloured eggs, she said. “Maternal inheritance is the reason why they’re unable to mimic that particular deep olive green colour,” Spottiswoode told AFP.

 

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