Team cracks eggs for science

(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau) Avian brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, forcing the hosts to do the hard work of raising the unrelated young. A team of scientists wanted to simulate the task of piercing an egg - a tactic that only a minority of host birds use to help grasp and eject the foreign eggs. Their study offers insight into some of the physical challenges the discriminating host birds face.
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: news