Since ancient times, it was believed that cuckoos carry their eggs in their beaks and thus deposit them into the nests of other birds. However, a new study has shown that this is not the case. Scientists were able to record on video for the first time how these birds actually lay eggs, writes Phys.org.
The study, whose results were published in the journal Animal Behaviour, was conducted by an international group of ornithologists led by Robert Thomson from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and Tomáš Grim from Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic). They observed the behavior of cuckoos in Finland over several seasons and recorded more than 60 instances of them laying eggs.
The peculiarity is that cuckoos do indeed deposit eggs into the nests of other birds, for example, those that live in tree hollows. But in doing so, they use two different strategies, neither of which involves carrying eggs to the site in their beak.
In some cases, the female lays an egg simply near the entrance to the nest, then "tosses" it inside. In others, she enters the hollow and lays the egg directly inside.
Each method has its pros and cons. Laying from the outside carries less risk of getting trapped, but one might miss. If entering inside, the egg lands exactly where it needs to, but there is a danger for the bird of getting stuck in the hollow or damaging the nest.
The main conclusion of the study is that cuckoos do not carry eggs in their beaks, but lay them directly into the nest of the host bird. The old myth persisted for millennia because observing cuckoo behavior was very difficult.
Scientists note that their discovery helps to better understand how different species adapt to each other in nature, and shows that even in supposedly well-studied animals, unexpected behavioral features can be revealed.
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