The eggs she lays are white, like her host’s.
The whydah lays her two to four eggs in a pytilia’s nest. When her chicks hatch, the male learns to sing his caretaker’s song, while the female learns to recognise it. Their parasitic relationship and recent speciation is perpetuated with the perfect imitation of a melody.
Recently I’ve been thinking about how elegant the balance between altruistic and selfish animals is. A single parasite, having more to lose, can devastate an idyllic society of forgiving animals. The selfish multiply and consume the resources. They eventually run out of animals to take advantage of, however, and this new majority quickly declines. An increase of kinder animals occurs, this time more wary and sharp.
Meanwhile, the remaining parasites return with relentless ambition. Part of it is tragic, because they are born out of a genetic code that pressures selfish behaviour, facing extinction if they deny their tradition.
From the Deception series!
-Christie
