FitzPatrick Institute Seminar: 'A stab in the dark: the evolution of brood parasitism in Greater Honeyguides' by Dr Claire Spottiswoode

Honeyguides are some of Africa's most intriguing birds, showing interspecific interactions not only with humans that they exploit for foraging, but also other birds that they exploit for parental care. This talk will be about the ecology and evolution of their brood parasitic interactions, using a combination of field experiments and genetic analyses. I'll hope to show that parasitic exploitation by honeyguides is remarkably ancient, remarkably violent, and has generated a mixture of exquisite adaptation and a baffling lack of it.