David Attenborough's Life Stories

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Factual: Pets & Animals

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Series of talks by Sir David Attenborough on the natural histories of creatures and plants

Series of talks by Sir David Attenborough on the natural histories of creatures and plants from around the world

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David Attenborough's Life Stories: Series 2: Cuckoo

Cuckoo

Series 2

BBC Radio 4 Extra - David Attenborough's Life Stories, Series 2, Cuckoo

David Attenborough tells us how cuckoos get their eggs into the nests of other species.

David Attenborough explores how cuckoos get their eggs into the nests of other species. It is one of the iconic brood parasites. From 2011.

The Cuckoo is one of the iconic brood parasites of the world - the bird that cons another species into taking its egg as its own and rears the chick to fledging. 

In the single frame of the Cuckoo you have a long distance migrant, travelling from Africa to breeding grounds in the temperate north, and back again. 

The Cuckoo does not raise its own chick and across a range of Cuckoo individuals, they parasitise several species of bird - all much smaller than they are. 

Sir David Attenborough explores the world of the Cuckoo and not only marvels at their natural history but tells the story of how a wildlife cameraman resolved a scientific mystery - and how the Cuckoo itself harbours yet more secrets to science and natural history.

Producer: Julian Hector.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2011

David Attenborough's Life Stories: Series 2

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