Cold-blooded mothers: Magpie parents seem to induce mortality of 'unwanted' chicks
Saturday, July 24, 2010 - 08:35
in Psychology & Sociology
A new pattern of nestling mortality was found in magpies' nests. Sons died more in the nests with more daughters and daughters died more in the nests with more sons. Researchers think that this pattern, that reinforces the original bias in brood sex composition, implies parental strategies being set as a "package," where specific initial sex composition of a brood is correlated with a specific parental "attitude" towards sons and daughters.