Cuckoos’ Evolutionary Arms Race Creates New Species

image via New Scientist

June 4, 2024, 12:00 PM

• •Cuckoos are “nest pirates” that lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, setting off an evolutionary arms race that leads to the development of new species.
• •The deceptive behaviour of bronze-cuckoos imposes heavy costs on their hosts.
• •Our results also suggest that the evolution of cuckoos and their hosts is most likely to drive the creation of new species when the cuckoos impose a high cost on their hosts – such as by killing off all the host’s own offspring.

Cuckoo chicks are “sleeper agents” in an evolutionary arms race that leads to the development of new species. They lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, and their chicks mimic the appearance of their host’s chicks to avoid detection. This process can lead to the divergence of the cuckoo population into separate subspecies, each of which exploits a different host.

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