Okay, but why put eggs in another bird’s basket?

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About this episode

E16. What if the secret to raising more babies was to never raise a single one yourself? Dr. Chris Balakrishnan, Associate Adjunct Professor of Biology at East Carolina University and co-founder of Nerd Nite, has spent his career studying the strangest birds on the planet: the ones that outsource parenthood entirely. In this episode you'll hear about: The evolutionary arms race between brood parasites and their hosts, from mimetic eggs to alien-looking chick mouth patterns How the "password hypothesis" explains how brown-headed cowbirds avoid imprinting on the wrong species Why host-switching in African parasitic finches can drive the rapid formation of new species All audio, video, and…