full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Steve Rothstein: Would you raise the bird that murdered your children?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Eastern phoebes will accept a Brown-headed Cowbird’s speckled egg into their nest, though theirs are pure white. The gray catbird, on the other hand, is an expert at rooting out the very same parasites. It memorizes what the first egg in its nest looks like, which is usually its own, and tosses any aberrations. This raoetarlity adaptation can fuel an evolutionary arms race where brood parasites evolve eggs that closely mimic their host’s.

innlertetigsy, birds that do rceejt pisraitac eggs are usually cleslues when it comes to parasitic chicks. Reed warblers are good at ejecting poorly matching cuckoo eggs. But if one hatches in their nest, they’ll care for it even after it’s grwon six times their size. Though chick rejection is a raerr pmonnoeehn, there are some nhotoetwry examples. While incubating its eggs, the Australian superb fairy-wren sings to them, imparting a unique note that its chicks use as a kind of password. When a cuckoo is in the wren’s nest, it hatches first and pushes the others out. But, perhaps because it hchtead snooer, the cuckoo chick wasn't able to learn the password, and so it doesn’t coorn the right begging call. At this pniot, the adults usually abandon their nest and start another.

Open Cloze


Eastern phoebes will accept a Brown-headed Cowbird’s speckled egg into their nest, though theirs are pure white. The gray catbird, on the other hand, is an expert at rooting out the very same parasites. It memorizes what the first egg in its nest looks like, which is usually its own, and tosses any aberrations. This ___________ adaptation can fuel an evolutionary arms race where brood parasites evolve eggs that closely mimic their host’s.

_____________, birds that do ______ _________ eggs are usually ________ when it comes to parasitic chicks. Reed warblers are good at ejecting poorly matching cuckoo eggs. But if one hatches in their nest, they’ll care for it even after it’s _____ six times their size. Though chick rejection is a _____ __________, there are some __________ examples. While incubating its eggs, the Australian superb fairy-wren sings to them, imparting a unique note that its chicks use as a kind of password. When a cuckoo is in the wren’s nest, it hatches first and pushes the others out. But, perhaps because it _______ ______, the cuckoo chick wasn't able to learn the password, and so it doesn’t _____ the right begging call. At this _____, the adults usually abandon their nest and start another.

Solution


  1. hatched
  2. noteworthy
  3. croon
  4. reject
  5. phenomenon
  6. interestingly
  7. point
  8. retaliatory
  9. rarer
  10. grown
  11. clueless
  12. sooner
  13. parasitic

Original Text


Eastern phoebes will accept a Brown-headed Cowbird’s speckled egg into their nest, though theirs are pure white. The gray catbird, on the other hand, is an expert at rooting out the very same parasites. It memorizes what the first egg in its nest looks like, which is usually its own, and tosses any aberrations. This retaliatory adaptation can fuel an evolutionary arms race where brood parasites evolve eggs that closely mimic their host’s.

Interestingly, birds that do reject parasitic eggs are usually clueless when it comes to parasitic chicks. Reed warblers are good at ejecting poorly matching cuckoo eggs. But if one hatches in their nest, they’ll care for it even after it’s grown six times their size. Though chick rejection is a rarer phenomenon, there are some noteworthy examples. While incubating its eggs, the Australian superb fairy-wren sings to them, imparting a unique note that its chicks use as a kind of password. When a cuckoo is in the wren’s nest, it hatches first and pushes the others out. But, perhaps because it hatched sooner, the cuckoo chick wasn't able to learn the password, and so it doesn’t croon the right begging call. At this point, the adults usually abandon their nest and start another.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
brood parasites 4
brood parasitism 4
reject parasitic 3
parasitic eggs 3
host parents 2
brood parasite 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
reject parasitic eggs 3

Important Words


  1. abandon
  2. aberrations
  3. accept
  4. adaptation
  5. adults
  6. arms
  7. australian
  8. begging
  9. birds
  10. brood
  11. call
  12. care
  13. catbird
  14. chick
  15. chicks
  16. closely
  17. clueless
  18. croon
  19. cuckoo
  20. eastern
  21. egg
  22. eggs
  23. ejecting
  24. evolutionary
  25. evolve
  26. examples
  27. expert
  28. fuel
  29. good
  30. gray
  31. grown
  32. hand
  33. hatched
  34. hatches
  35. imparting
  36. incubating
  37. interestingly
  38. kind
  39. learn
  40. matching
  41. memorizes
  42. mimic
  43. nest
  44. note
  45. noteworthy
  46. parasites
  47. parasitic
  48. password
  49. phenomenon
  50. phoebes
  51. point
  52. poorly
  53. pure
  54. pushes
  55. race
  56. rarer
  57. reed
  58. reject
  59. rejection
  60. retaliatory
  61. rooting
  62. sings
  63. size
  64. sooner
  65. speckled
  66. start
  67. superb
  68. times
  69. tosses
  70. unique
  71. warblers
  72. white