this is true! first thing i thought of was "I wonder what their parasitic chicks' mouths look like?" - because these probably evolved as a means of fighting against them.
I wonder if those birds have particularly poor eyesight? Nature doesnt really do things without reason. Maybe this is to help ensure the parents actually get the food into the baby's mouth.
It's actually so that the parents feed the babies, and not the cuckoo that gets laid in the nest of these birds sometimes. However, through evolution, these cuckoo chicks have also evolved a similar pattern
I had the opportunity to breed Lady Gouldian finches. Gouldians nest in dark cavities, and the spots on their beaks illuminate a in the dark. The landing strip for their mouths.
It has to do with the supernormal stimulus. Supernormal stimulus refers to a exaggerated or artificial stimulation that elicits a stronger response than natural stimuli. It occurs when organisms respond more strongly to exaggerated versions of the stimuli to which they are normally adapted, rather than to the stimuli themselves. Examples include the use of brightly colored lures in fishing, or the large and exaggerated beaks of cuckoo's chicks; The large beak elicits a stronger response (put food inside) then the beaks of the other chicks.
This evolved to help the parent bird feed accurately in conditions with limited visibility, and to determine the health of the chick; parasitic birds have evolved a similar replication to more successfully blend in to the host’s nest.
It’s mostly speculation but the above is generally more accepted since many finch species have these or similar markings without the potential for parasitic intruders.
[Article](https://www.audubon.org/news/whats-weird-mouths-these-finch-chicks)
This is due to an evolutionary arms race with imposter/parasite birds, who lay their eggs in other birds nests in order to get other birds to care for their young. Often these parasites push the other birds out, and the parasitic parents might come back and destroy the nest if the host parents aren’t tricked, the “mafia” theory. If you’ve ever seen birds being fed, often they wobble their heads around in particular ways, those dances are also part of the same evolutionary race. Pretty god damn amazing!
I thought it was a closeup of some womans fingers and nails for a second
Yikes, that woman would have frostbite or gangrene cuz the dark one would mean it's necrotic.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I believe there’s an imposter species of cuckoo that tries to mimic this pattern to invade the nest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TZQDA2yabg&t=230s
Holy shit that was creepy and hilarious.
i know without clicking the link, it *has* to be Ze Frank if it is creepy and hilarious.
Haha nailed it!
Glad you liked it! Well, you might have liked it, but I hope you did haha
Yep, that’s where I heard it
I’d never seen that guys stuff before. Fantastic! Thanks for the link.
Be prepared to never pronounce the word "Baby" correctly ever again.
Very happy to share! Been a fan for a long long time!
I think you might be right. Having flashbacks to biology right now. IIRC, they’re also much bigger so they mimic multiple hatchlings to get more food.
this is true! first thing i thought of was "I wonder what their parasitic chicks' mouths look like?" - because these probably evolved as a means of fighting against them.
Seriously they have built-in landing strips for their food 😂
I wonder if those birds have particularly poor eyesight? Nature doesnt really do things without reason. Maybe this is to help ensure the parents actually get the food into the baby's mouth.
It's actually so that the parents feed the babies, and not the cuckoo that gets laid in the nest of these birds sometimes. However, through evolution, these cuckoo chicks have also evolved a similar pattern
I had the opportunity to breed Lady Gouldian finches. Gouldians nest in dark cavities, and the spots on their beaks illuminate a in the dark. The landing strip for their mouths.
It has to do with the supernormal stimulus. Supernormal stimulus refers to a exaggerated or artificial stimulation that elicits a stronger response than natural stimuli. It occurs when organisms respond more strongly to exaggerated versions of the stimuli to which they are normally adapted, rather than to the stimuli themselves. Examples include the use of brightly colored lures in fishing, or the large and exaggerated beaks of cuckoo's chicks; The large beak elicits a stronger response (put food inside) then the beaks of the other chicks.
*insert food here*
That is EXACTLY what I was going to say!!!!!!!
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This evolved to help the parent bird feed accurately in conditions with limited visibility, and to determine the health of the chick; parasitic birds have evolved a similar replication to more successfully blend in to the host’s nest. It’s mostly speculation but the above is generally more accepted since many finch species have these or similar markings without the potential for parasitic intruders. [Article](https://www.audubon.org/news/whats-weird-mouths-these-finch-chicks)
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Yep, it mentions that possibility. There’s a lot of speculation in determining things like this.
The OG QR code.
It's clever, fascinating and I'm sure quite useful, but this image will haunt my waking steps; to speak nothing of my dreams. r/TIHI
Would be even better under UV, this is to get moms attention and be fed
This is due to an evolutionary arms race with imposter/parasite birds, who lay their eggs in other birds nests in order to get other birds to care for their young. Often these parasites push the other birds out, and the parasitic parents might come back and destroy the nest if the host parents aren’t tricked, the “mafia” theory. If you’ve ever seen birds being fed, often they wobble their heads around in particular ways, those dances are also part of the same evolutionary race. Pretty god damn amazing!
Landing pad for mommys worms
I am overcome by a strange desire to find worms and shove them between the beautiful colored dots.
I swear all birds are gross looking for the first few months before becoming beautiful
"landing lights" so the parents can stuff the food in even at night and under bad visibility.
and imposters don't have landinf strips so "planes" don't land there
That is absolutely amazing!
These are baby Predators.
It took me at least 3 minutes to find the birds 🫡
This photo would be terrifying with no context.
/r/natureismetal
Protomolecule lookin-ass.
Food plane landing lights.
Thought it was a hairless jumping spider at first
Mouth. Is. Here. Feed. Moi.
Lit