Mother Birds 'Engineer' Their Offspring, ScienceDaily Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: Current research emphasizes the role of maternal effects in fostering the adaptation of organisms to a changing environment. In birds, mothers pass androgens to their eggs, and these hormones have been shown to influence the development and behavior of nestlings. Since these effects may persist in adulthood, it has been suggested that avian mothers may engineer, so to speak, the adult phenotype of their offspring. (...) little is known on whether differences between species in levels of egg androgens are related to differences in the ecology of species. (...) several differences in avian life history have coevolved with differences in yolk androgens. (...)