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Guira Cuckoo

Sir David Attenborough presents the guira cuckoo of central South America.

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Sir David Attenborough presents the guira cuckoo of central South America. Guira cuckoos break all the usual rules of their family. They are very sociable and travel in noisy gangs, feeding and roosting together. But what makes the behaviour of guira cuckoos so different is that several females often lay their eggs in a single nest, sometimes as many as 20 eggs which are tended by the respective mothers . This is known as co-operative breeding. Whether a female recognises her own eggs isn't certain, but it's possible that they can distinguish them by variable markings on the eggshells and single them out for special care.

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1 minute

Last on

Mon 29 Aug 2022 05:58

Guira Cuckoo (Guira guira)

Webpage image courtesy of Roy Mangersnes/naturepl.com

NPL Ref 聽漏 Roy Mangersnes/naturepl.com

Broadcasts

  • Mon 15 Sep 2014 05:58
  • Mon 28 Sep 2015 05:58
  • Sun 4 Oct 2015 08:58
  • Thu 20 Aug 2020 05:58
  • Mon 29 Aug 2022 05:58

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