Animal Sciences Commons^™

Variable Facial Plumage In Juvenile Cliff Swallows: A Potential Offspring Recognition Cue?, Allison E. Johnson, Steven Freedberg

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Although the ability to recognize related offspring is essential in the evolution of social behavior, the cues that birds use to identify their own offspring are not fully understood. The Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) is a highly social species that nests in large colonies and exhibits a high incidence of both conspecific brood parasitism and extrapair fertilization, behaviors that can potentially lead to parents investing energy and resources in unrelated offspring, which reduces the parents’ genetic fitness. Because parents continue to feed offspring after they leave the nest, parents also risk investing in unrelated offspring by misidentifying their …