Accurate recognition of salient cues is critical for adaptive responses, but the underlying
sensory and cognitive processes are often poorly understood. For example, hosts of avian …

One of the most striking outcomes of coevolution between species is egg mimicry by brood
parasitic birds, resulting from rejection behavior by discriminating host parents. Yet, how …

The optimal acceptance threshold hypothesis provides a general predictive framework for
testing behavioural responses to discrimination challenges. Decision-makers should …

Avian brood parasites lay their eggs in other birds' nests, and hosts can mitigate the fitness
cost of raising unrelated offspring by rejecting parasitic eggs. A visually-based cognitive …

Brood parasites lay their eggs in other females' nests, leaving the host parents to hatch and
rear their young. Studying how brood parasites manipulate hosts into raising their young …

How do birds tell the colours of their own and foreign eggs apart? We demonstrate that
perceptual modelling of avian visual discrimination can predict behavioural rejection …

Birds' eggshells are renowned for their striking colours and varied patterns. Although often
considered exceptionally diverse, we report that avian eggshell coloration, sampled here …

One of the most effective defenses against avian brood parasitism is the rejection of the
foreign egg from the host's nest. Until recently, most studies have tested whether hosts …

Avian egg colours and patterns are spectacularly diverse and provide a wonderful system to
study both the functional and mechanistic basis of animal colouration. In order to do this, it is …

Despite a recent explosion of research on pattern recognition, in both neuroscience and
computer vision, we lack a basic understanding of how most animals perceive and respond …