OSTRICHES RECOGNISE THEIR OWN EGGS AND DISCARD OTHERS
OSTRICHES RECOGNISE THEIR OWN EGGS AND DISCARD OTHERS
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DOI：
10.1038/279233a0
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发表时间：
1979-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
BERTRAM, BCR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
BERTRAM, BCR
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WILD ostriches (Struthio camelusL.) generally use communal nests1–4. In East Africa, 2–7 hens lay up to 13 eggs each in the same shallow scrape in the ground. Only one, the ‘major’ hen2, guards and later incubates the nest, helped by the male. Although a complete nest may contain up to 30–40 of the white 1.5-kg eggs4,5, an ostrich hen can incubate only about 20 (unpublished data). The surplus are pushed out to 1–2 m away where they are not incubated, and perish. I report here that the major hen avoids pushing out her own eggs.