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Essay Archive - Mimicry In Nature
Mimicry In Nature
Finding good day care can certainly pose a problem these days, unless,
of course, you're an African widow bird. When it comes time for a female
widow bird to lay her eggs, she simply locates the nest of a nearby
Estrildid finch and surreptitiously drops the eggs inside.
That's the last the widow bird ever sees of her offspring. But not to
worry, because the Estrildid finch will take devoted care of the abandoned
birds as if they were her own.
And who's to tell the difference? Though adult widow birds and
Estrildid finches don't look at all alike, their eggs do. Not only that,
baby widow birds....
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