Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature
Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature
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DOI：
10.5860/choice.191309
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发表时间：
2001
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
N. Davies
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
N. Davies
布谷鸟是春天的使者，几个世纪以来，布谷鸟一直在我们的感情中占有一席之地。英语中最古老的歌曲庆祝布谷鸟的到来，告诉我们“苏美尔是icumen in”。但对许多其他鸟类来说，布谷鸟是厄运的信号，因为它是自然界最臭名昭著的骗子。世界各地的布谷鸟已经进化出非凡的技巧来操纵其他物种抚养它们的后代。他们是怎么逃脱惩罚的？在这本引人入胜的书中，自然学家和科学家尼克·戴维斯揭示了布谷鸟如何欺骗它们的宿主。运用敏锐的侦查技巧和实地实验，他揭示了一场进化军备竞赛，宿主进化出更好的防御布谷鸟的能力，布谷鸟反过来又进化出新的欺骗形式。这是达尔文的“纠缠银行”的一个迷人的角落，在那里，生物不断进化，以跟上对手的变化。詹姆斯·麦卡勒姆（James McCallum）生动的野外绘画和非凡的照片展示了布谷鸟的行动：从雌性布谷鸟产下美丽的伪装蛋，到布谷鸟雏鸟将宿主的蛋和幼鸟从巢中排出，以确保它得到养父母的充分关注。布谷鸟不仅提供了一个新的见解，这些非凡的鸟类的秘密生活，但也到欺骗如何演变和繁荣的自然世界。
Beloved as the herald of spring, cuckoos have held a place in our affections for centuries. The oldest song in English celebrates the cuckoo's arrival, telling us that 'Sumer is icumen in'. But for many other birds the cuckoo is a signal of doom, for it is Nature's most notorious cheat. Cuckoos across the world have evolved extraordinary tricks to manipulate other species into raising their young. How do they get away with it? In this enormously engaging book, naturalist and scientist Nick Davies reveals how cuckoos trick their hosts. Using shrewd detective skills and field experiments, he uncovers an evolutionary arms race, in which hosts evolve better defences against cuckoos and cuckoos, in turn, evolve novel forms of trickery. This is a fascinating corner of Darwin's 'entangled bank', where creatures are continually evolving to keep up with changes in their rivals. Lively field drawings by James McCallum, and remarkable photographs, show cuckoos in action: from the female cuckoo laying her beautifully disguised egg, to the cuckoo chick ejecting the host's eggs and young from the nest to ensure it gets the full attention of its foster parents. Cuckoo offers a new insight not only into the secret lives of these extraordinary birds, but also into how cheating evolves and thrives in the natural world.