Parasites: what causes some species to evolve to exploit others
If you saw the first episode of David Attenborough’s new BBC series Perfect Planet, you will have seen the astounding bloodsucking behaviour of the vampire finches. These small birds exist only on two remote islands in the Galapagos and have evolved to drink the blood of much larger seabirds. You will also have seen the curious behaviour of the booby, the seabird that the finch was gulping blood from – it didn’t seem bothered, and it didn’t try to get rid of the finch. So how might this bloodsucking and relative lack of resistance have evolved? It likely began with a process called ...
Source: theconversation.com