Note the (barely visible) thin, wavy larval fin fold: a transient membranous structure running along the dorsal, caudal, and ventral edges

@amcuervo.bsky.social Hi! Could you still use photos taken close to Manizales?

Hi, thanks for setting this up. Could you add me please to the pack? Thank you!

Thank you!

Many thanks to my supportive supervisors and collaborators @peterkorsten.bsky.social @stphn-slzr.bsky.social Gaoyang Yu, Koen Baas, Marco van der Velde, Maaike Versteegh, Jan Komdeur & Barbara Caspers | @unigroningen.bsky.social | Bielefeld University | @aberdlsagb.bsky.social | @aberuni.bsky.social

Conclusion: We found no olfactory kin discrimination in begging blue tit nestlings. To assess the importance of olfaction in kin recognition across birds, more work is needed. Current evidence suggests colony-breeding birds (e.g. seabirds) may rely more on olfaction than species that breed solitary.

An extra exploratory analysis showed no difference in growth and survival between cross-fostered and non-cross-fostered nestlings shortly before fledging, adding further support to our results and (re)confirming that cross-fostering doesn’t negatively affect nestling growth and survival.

After the experiment, the nestlings were fed until satiated and returned to their nests, heavier than before the experiment. 🐣🪹

We replicated most previous findings, including stronger begging responses from lighter nestlings and after longer food deprivation. However, nestlings did not show stronger begging responses (in probability or duration) toward kin versus nonkin nestmates.

Apart from cross-fostering, we followed the exact same experimental procedures as used before. We temporarily food-deprived nestlings and presented odour samples from related versus unrelated (yet familiar) cross-fostered nestmates at 30, 90 & 150 min after the onset of food deprivation.