Re: Megapode cuteness factor?

[Mickey Rowe <rowe@psych.ucsb.edu>]

The following was held back by a technical glitch; please make sure
you follow up to the correct author if you'd like to respond -- MPR. 

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Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2005 13:21:34 -0400
From: Michael Habib <mhabib5@jhmi.edu>
Subject: Re: Megapode cuteness factor?
To: Dinosaur MailingList <dinosaur@usc.edu>

On Monday, August 1, 2005, at 10:47 AM, Aidan Karley wrote:

>
> --- David Peters <davidrpeters@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> With regard to megapode chicks (those able to fly shortly after
>> hatching): any pictures?
>     You mean cuckoos, or other organisms inhabiting a "exploit the
> young-raising behaviour of unrelated organisms" niche?

Actually, megapodes are not nest parasites.  Their chicks are 
superprecocial; they require no parental care after birth and can fly 
soon after hatching (they can run immediately after hatching).

There are pictures available online, though I'm sure better ones
exist:
http://www.tongaturismo.info/malau/
http://galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au/megapode_project/prstudy.html

In both cases, the photos of chicks are at the bottom of the page.

The chicks are 'cute' in the sense of having large eyes and shortened
faces relative to the adults, but this is likely just a
structural/developmental constraint.  (one which may then be cued in
on by parents that give care).  However, it is worth noting that
megapode superprecociality is secondarily derived from 'standard'
galliform precocial systems where some parental care exists (see
Starck, 1993, 1998).

--Mike Habib