Would you raise the bird that murdered your children? - Steve Rothstein
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TEDEd Animation
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A mother honeyguide has placed its chick into a bee-eater’s nest— puncturing all the other eggs in the nest and leaving only its own hatching alive. Over the following weeks, the host parents devotedly care for the hatchling whose mother murdered their offspring. This is brood parasitism, a phenomenon which is especially well-known among birds. Steve Rothstein digs into the evolutionary strategy.
Cowbirds are the only parasitic birds that are in North America and most hosts show little to no egg recognition. Parasitic cuckoos occur in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia and most hosts show egg recognition. Which group of parasitic birds, cowbirds or cuckoos, would you hypothesize evolved parasitism first? What kind of information could test your hypothesis? Which group of parasitic birds likely has more species?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Stephen Rothstein
- Director Mauricio Bueno, Lucy Animation Studio
- Narrator Jack Cutmore-Scott
- Storyboard Artist Mauricio Bueno, Dakalister
- Animator Santiago Grillo, Mauricio Bueno, Ana María Martinez, Johanna Benavides, Isabella Giraldo, Mario Carrascal
- Compositor Jorge Moyano, Jefersson Vargas
- Art Director Dakalister
- Line Producer Karina Forero
- Music Adam Alexander, Gavin Dodds
- Sound Designer Adam Alexander, Bamm Bamm Wolfgang
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Editorial Producer Cella Wright
- Script Editor Emma Bryce
- Fact-Checker Jennifer Nam
