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The only living mammals that lay eggs are echidnas and platypuses. In the latter, the eggs develop in utero for about 28 days, with only about 10 days of external incubation (in contrast to a chicken egg, which spends about one day in tract and 21 days externally). [11] After laying her eggs, the female curls around them.
The birds are territorial during breeding season, and will fight with other members of their species, as well as other water birds such as ducks, to drive them out of their territory. The nest is a basket built on the ground in dense vegetation. Laying starts in spring, between mid-March and mid-May in Northern hemisphere temperate regions.
The chick will roll the other eggs out of the nest by pushing them with its back over the edge. If the host's eggs hatch before the cuckoo's, the cuckoo chick will push the other chicks out of the nest in a similar way. At 14 days old, the common cuckoo chick is about three times the size of an adult Eurasian reed warbler.
Some desert birds depend on water sources and sandgrouse are particularly well known for congregating daily at waterholes. Nesting sandgrouse and many plovers carry water to their young by wetting their belly feathers. [167] Some birds carry water for chicks at the nest in their crop or regurgitate it along with food.
Temperature-dependent sex determination was first described in Agama agama in 1966 by Madeleine Charnier. [18] A 2015 study found that hot temperatures altered the expression of the sex chromosomes in Australia's bearded dragon lizards. The lizards were female in appearance and were capable of bearing offspring, despite having the ZZ ...
Castrated males can go broody with baby chicks, [8] showing that broodiness is not limited to females, however, castrated males do not incubate eggs. Contrary to common opinion, the temperature of broody hens barely differs from that of laying hens. [8] Broody hens pluck feathers from their chest, using them to cover the eggs.
No nest material is added, although litter may build up over the years. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the chicks. Egg laying is staggered at one-day intervals so that if food is short, only the older, larger nestlings get fed. The chicks are naked, blind, and helpless when they hatch, and stand on their heels, unlike adults. [7]
Their homes are adapted to withstand large (above-ground) temperature variation, floods, and fire. Their young are raised in the deepest chambers where the temperature is the most stable. [4] Many mammals, including raccoons and skunks, seek natural cavities in the ground or in trees to build their nests. Raccoons, and some rodents, use leaves ...