Birds' strategic mobbing fends off parasitic invaders
Thursday, January 29, 2009 - 13:56
in Biology & Nature
Reed warblers use mobbing as a front line of nest defense against parasitic cuckoos, according to a new report published online on January 29th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. Cuckoos act as parasites by laying their eggs in the nests of other birds, reed warblers in particular, burdening their hosts with the trouble of raising young that don't belong to them.