How do parents recognize their offspring when the cost of making a recognition error is high
[1–3]? Avian brood parasite-host systems have been used to address this question because …

In many species, individuals must contribute extensively to offspring care to reproduce
successfully. Within species, variation in care is driven by local social, physiological, and …

Increased predation risk is considered a cost of having conspicuous colours, affecting the
anti-predator behaviour of colourful animals. However, this is difficult to test, as individual …

Cooperative breeding among birds was first discovered in the genus Malurus (Maluridae),
the fairy-wrens. Cooperative care arises because male, and sometimes female, offspring …

Prenatal imitative learning is an emerging research area in both human and non-human
animals. Previous studies in Superb Fairywrens (Malurus cyaneus) showed that mothers are …

ABSTRACT The Lovely Fairy-Wren (Malurus amabilis) is endemic to the wet tropics of
Australia and is one of 11 species in the genus Malurus. Despite the large number of studies …

Individuals can exhibit strong consistencies in behaviours across time and contexts, referred
to as animal personalities. Yet studies linking personality differences measured in captivity …

Animals often announce their unprofitability to predators through conspicuous coloured
signals. Here we tested whether the apparently conspicuous colour designs of the four …

Predation risk affects a broad range of bird behaviours, especially parental care. The
adaptive behavioural changes presented by both parents, however, may differ according to …

Seasonal breeding plumage of male fairy-wrens (Malurus spp.) shows significant inter-and
intra-specific variation in several potential signalling components that we systematically …