Question

Koel‌ ‌or‌ ‌cuckoo‌ ‌lays‌ ‌eggs‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌nest‌ ‌of‌ ‌ ‌
A)Weaver‌ ‌bird‌ ‌ ‌
B)Cattle‌ ‌egret‌ ‌ ‌
C)Crow‌ ‌ ‌
D)‌ ‌Kite‌ ‌

Answer 1

Hint: When an organism lays eggs in the nest of another organism it becomes an example of brood parasitism. The host ( other organism) incubates the host. During the course of evolution , the eggs of parasitic birds have evolved to resemble the host’s egg in size and colour to reduce the chances of the host bird detecting the foreign eggs and ejecting them from the nest.

Complete answer:
The koel lays the egg in the nest of those in which they found the highest chances of clutch formation and to the nest of that animal to which colour and pattern of its egg get matched. Now let us find which colour and pattern of egg match with koel’s and cuckoo’s egg.
Weaver bird :- vidua lays their egg in the nest of weaver bird because its egg resembles those of weaver bird but koel do not lay egg in it. So this option is not correct.
Cattle egret :- the eggs of this do not match with that of koel and cuckoo. So they do not lay eggs in the nest of egrets. Hence this option is not correct.
Crow :- the eggs of cuckoo and koel matches with those of crow in structure and pattern both. There are the highest chances of clutch formation so they lay their eggs in the nest of the crow. Hence the option is correct..
Kite :- in this female lay egg in clutch of 1-3 for ,3 days interval but it does not occur in koel and cuckoo so they do not lay their egg in this .Hence the option is not correct.

Our required answer is c that is crow.

Note: Brood Parasitism: It is a kind of parasitism which is found in birds where a parasitic bird lays its eggs in the nest of its host (other birds) and lets the host incubate them. For example, cuckoo (parasite) lays its eggs in crow's (host) nest.