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Natural World: 2008-2009

David Attenborough

Tim Martin

Natural World: 2008-2009: Episode 7: Cuckoo

Cuckoo

Episode 7

Episode 7: Cuckoo

2008-2009

BBC Two - Natural World, 2008-2009, Cuckoo

Just how does the cuckoo trick other birds into accepting its eggs and raising its young?

Just how does the cuckoo trick other birds into accepting its eggs and raising its young? New photography is combined with the latest scientific findings to solve the puzzle.

The sound of the cuckoo is to many the very essence of spring, yet behind the magical call is a bird that is a cheat, a thief and a killer. Just how does the cuckoo trick other birds into accepting its eggs and raising its young? Why don't the duped foster parents react as they watch the baby cuckoo destroy their own eggs and chicks? And why do they work so relentlessly to feed a demanding chick that looks nothing like them and will soon dwarf them? 

In this film, new photography is combined with archive footage and the latest scientific findings to solve a puzzle which, as narrator David Attenborough explains, has perplexed nature watchers for thousands of years.

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Natural World

2008-2009

Episode 7: Cuckoo

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