COPY that. Neomorphus ground-cuckoos in Central and South America seem to mimic the sounds made by the pig-like peccaries they live alongside, perhaps to ward off predators.
Cibele Biondo at the Federal University of ABC in Brazil and her team analysed the cuckoos’ bill-clacking sounds. The sounds were distinct from the bill clacks of the closely related roadrunner, but similar to the sounds peccaries make when they clack their teeth to warn off big cats (Journal of Avian Biology, doi.org/b87v).
Biondo thinks the cuckoos might imitate the peccaries to deter predators, particularly since hunters rely on hearing in the dark, dense forests where the cuckoos and peccaries live.
This article appeared in print under the headline “The cuckoos that mimic a mammal”