A mother honeyguide has placed its chick into a bee-eater's nest— puncturing all the other eggs in the nest and leaving only its own hatching alive. Over the following weeks, the host parents devotedly care for the hatchling whose mother murdered their offspring. This is brood parasitism, a phenomenon which is especially well-known among birds. Steve Rothstein digs into the evolutionary strategy. [Directed by Mauricio Bueno, Lucy Animation Studio, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott, music by Adam Alexander and Gavin Dodds].

Steve Rothstein: Would you raise the bird that murdered your children?

Would you raise the bird that murdered your children?

Brood parasitism reveals nature's cunning: a honeyguide chick murders its nestmates, highlighting evolution's ruthless paths.

The Australian superb fairy-wren’s password system against cuckoo chicks underscores nature's complex inter-species communication.

Brood parasites cunningly shift parenting costs by tricking other birds into raising their young, sparking evolutionary arms races.