State Forestry Administration of China Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Conservation in Mountainous Areas of Southwest Karst, School of Life Sciences, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550001, China.
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, Hainan 571158, China. E-mail:
Zool Res. 2020 Jul 18;41(4):458-464. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2020.021.
The egg laying behavior of brood parasites is at the heart of studies on host co-evolution. Therefore, research on egg laying behavior can improve our understanding of brood parasitism and associated processes. Over a seven year study period, we monitored 455 oriental reed warbler ( ) nests during the egg laying period, 250 of which were parasitized by common cuckoos ( ). We collected 53 clear videos of common cuckoo parasitism, analyzed all recorded parasitic behavior in detail, and summarized the process of brood parasitism. Furthermore, based on analyses of the field video recordings, we propose a new explanation for egg removal behavior, namely the delivery hypothesis, i.e., egg pecking and biting by cuckoos may facilitate fast egg-laying and parasitism by reducing host attention and attack, with egg removal a side effect of egg pecking and biting. We concluded that common cuckoos change their behavior when hosts are present at the nest, with a set of behaviors performed to deal with host attack and successfully complete parasitic egg-laying regardless of time of day.
巢寄生鸟类的产卵行为是宿主协同进化研究的核心。因此，对产卵行为的研究可以增进我们对巢寄生及相关过程的理解。在为期 7 年的研究期间，我们在产卵期监测了 455 个东方苇莺（）巢，其中 250 个被普通杜鹃（）寄生。我们收集了 53 段普通杜鹃寄生的清晰视频，详细分析了所有记录的寄生行为，并总结了巢寄生的过程。此外，基于对现场视频记录的分析，我们提出了一种关于卵移除行为的新解释，即传递假说，即杜鹃的啄卵和咬卵行为可能通过减少宿主的注意和攻击来促进快速产卵和寄生，而卵移除是啄卵和咬卵的副作用。我们得出结论，普通杜鹃在宿主出现在巢中时会改变行为，会采取一系列行为来应对宿主的攻击，并成功地完成寄生产卵，而不管一天中的时间如何。
