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Message:

> 94% of the time:
> 
> https://www.science.org/content/article/two-these-eggs-are-impostors-can-you-spot-them?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ScienceAdviser&utm_content=distillation&et_rid=825383635&et_cid=4829938
> 
> "The African cuckoo (Cuculus gularis) is infamous in the bird world. Mothers of this common parasitic species lay their eggs in the nests of a variety of other birds, camouflaging them so they can dupe unsuspecting moms into raising their hatchlings.
> 
> "But the fork-tailed drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis)—a glossy, red-eyed bird native to southern Africa—isn’t so easily fooled. According to a study published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Academy B, drongo moms can spot the counterfeits with 94% accuracy, despite cuckoo eggs being an almost perfect visual match for their own.
> 
> "The secret to the drongos’ success? Homing in on subtle variations in color and speckled patterning on the surface of their highly diverse eggs. Each female has a unique egg type, helping her spot impostors with accuracy that outstrips both humans and computer models."
> 
> From the original study:
> 
> https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.1125
> 
> "We show, using a combination of image analysis, field experiments and simulations, that: egg colour and pattern mimicry of fork-tailed drongo eggs by African cuckoos is near-perfect on average; drongos show fine-tuned rejection of foreign eggs, exploiting unpredictable pattern differences between parasitic eggs and their own; and the high degree of interclutch variation (polymorphic egg ‘signatures’) exhibited by drongos gives them the upper hand in the arms race, with 93.7% of cuckoo eggs predicted to be rejected, despite cuckoos mimicking the full range of drongo egg phenotypes. These results demonstrate that model diversification is a highly effective defence against mimics, even when mimicry is highly accurate."
> 
> Comment: one should know one's own egg.