Parental dependence on the nest's spatial cues in offspring recognition decreases with nestling growth in the azure-winged magpie.

ABSTRACT: In altricial birds, to address which cues are used by parents to recognize their offspring, and when they switch between cues during reproduction, it has not been well determined. In this study, we address this question in a Tibetan population of the azure-winged magpie Cyanopica cyanus, by examining the dependence of parents on a nest's spatial position in offspring recognition. During the egg and nestling phases, azure-winged magpie nests were translocated to new positions across various distances from their original site, and parental responses to the translocated nests were investigated. Our findings show that a nest's spatial position is not connected with the survival of its young, but might be used as a cue in parental offspring recognition. When nests are translocated to a n

SUBMITTER: Gao LF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7769586 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature