>From http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/text.asp?pid=322
SANTA CRUZ, CA--Coots, the Rodney Dangerfields of the bird world, just
might start to get some respect as a result of a new study showing that
these common marsh birds are able to recognize and count their own eggs,
even in the presence of eggs laid by other birds.
The counting ability of female coots is part of a sophisticated set of
defense mechanisms used to thwart other coots who lay eggs in their
neighbors' nests, according to Bruce Lyon, an assistant professor of
ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa
Cruz. Lyon studied hundreds of coot nests in British Columbia during a
four-year investigation. His latest findings appear in the April 3 issue
of the scientific journal Nature.
"The ability of females to count only their own eggs in a mixture of
eggs is a remarkable feat that provides a convincing, rare example of
counting in a wild animal," Lyon wrote in the published paper.
A member of the rail family, the American coot (Fulica americana) is a
slate-gray bird with a white beak, about the size of a small duck. It
inhabits lakes, ponds, and marshes, often in large numbers. Coots
are ungainly on land, reluctant to fly, and not very impressive in the
water, either. Use of the word coot to mean a stupid person or simpleton
reflects prevailing attitudes toward these rather comical birds. But this
perception is belied by Lyon's discovery of their impressive cognitive
abilities.
"I was shocked. At first, I didn't believe the results," he said.
Lyon originally set out to study how coot parents care for their
chicks. But the focus of his research changed when he discovered extremely
high levels of "brood parasitism," the practice of laying eggs in other
birds' nests. Most studies of brood parasitism have looked at birds like
cuckoos, which lay their eggs in other species' nests and thereby avoid
the trouble of raising their own chicks. But brood parasitism also occurs
within species, and Lyon's research on coots is shedding new light on
this little-studied phenomenon.
Lyon and his field assistants tracked the fate of every egg in more than
400 coot nests, checking the nests every day. Because no bird can lay
more than one egg per day, parasitism was readily detected. In addition,
coot eggs laid by different parents can often be distinguished on the
basis of color and speckle pattern.
"The egg pattern is like a fingerprint," Lyon said. "It turns out that in
most cases, the parasitism is done by females who have their own nests,
and often it's the next-door neighbor, so by comparing the eggs in nearby
nests we can tell who's doing it."
Parasitism was rampant, affecting 41 percent of the nests and accounting
for 13 percent of all the eggs laid in the study population. Furthermore,
the cost of parasitism to the hosts was quite high.
"There's not enough food for all the eggs that get laid, so there is
a massive die-off of chicks. Typically about half the chicks in a nest
starve to death," Lyon said. "That explains both the cost of parasitism
to the host and the benefit to the parasite."
Female coots, Lyon found, are quite good at recognizing and rejecting
parasitic eggs. Rejected eggs were buried deep in the nesting material and
never hatched. In some cases, parasitic eggs were not rejected outright,
but were banished to inferior incubation positions, resulting in delayed
hatching and decreased likelihood of survival for the parasitic chicks.
"They may use that strategy to deal with eggs they are less certain of,"
Lyon said. "It's subtle, but it has an effect on reproductive success,
because the ones that hatch later are more likely to perish."
Evidence that coots are able to count their eggs was completely
unanticipated. Lyon wanted to look at how the presence of parasitic
eggs affected clutch size. Coots are indeterminate layers, meaning
that they'll keep laying eggs until an external cue tells them they're
done. Speculation about the nature of the cue has long favored the
sense of touch--when the female feels like she's sitting on the right
number of eggs, the development of new egg follicles stops. (Follicles
that have already started developing continue to develop, so there is
a delay between the cue and the cessation of egg laying.)
If the birds use a touch cue, the presence of parasitic eggs should
cause a female to lay fewer of her own eggs. But Lyon found that when
female coots recognized the parasitic eggs in their nests, eventually
rejecting them, they did not reduce their clutch size. In contrast,
females that failed to recognize parasitic eggs laid one fewer of their
own eggs for each parasitic egg they received.
"Rejection takes a long time, so the clutch-size decision is made while
the parasitic eggs are still in the nest," Lyon said. "That means they
are not using a touch cue. These birds are looking at their nests
and counting only those eggs they recognize as their own to make a
clutch-size decision."
Lyon noted that the meaning of "counting" in animals is a highly
contentious issue among cognitive psychologists and animal behavior
experts. What he means by counting is that the birds are making decisions
based on the number of eggs in their nests.
"That's pretty amazing for a 'stupid' bird like a coot," Lyon said. "It's
very satisfying to rescue a study animal from a bad rap."
_____
Note to reporters: You may contact Lyon at (831) 459-3949 or
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