The ability of a cow bird to find, you know, identify its own species is encoded in the zygote. One way that's been shown and other birds is that when a young bird is out and about adults of its own species will identify it and literally bully it. That turns the whole process on its head.
How do animals know how to do things like spin a web or build a dam? A neuroscientist argues it's not “instinct.” Something bigger is going on.
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