@article{10.18756/jfg.2013.141,
	title = {{Von der Symbiose zum sogenannten Brutparasitismus . Teil I: Aus dem Leben der Kuckucke }},
	shorttitle = {{Von der Symbiose zum sogenannten Brutparasitismus }},
	author = {Streffer, Walther},
	journal = {Jahrbuch für Goetheanismus},
	year = {2013},
	volume = {2013},
	pages = {141--186},
	url = {https://dx.doi.org/10.18756/jfg.2013.141},
	doi = {10.18756/jfg.2013.141},
	issn = {Print :1866-4830 Online : 2750-2341 },
	language = {de},
	abstract = {},
	annote = {From symbiosis to brood parasitism Part I From the life of the cuckooUsing the cuckoo family as an example this article shows that likening the cuckoo to a brood parasite is not generally justified as there are many cuckoo species that care for brood Some of them  possibly the oldest  form social groups and brood communities supported by helpers whereas only 53 of the 140 species are brood parasites Cuckoos represent a very diverse group of birds there are small songbirdlike as well as large chickenlike cuckoos whereas others exhibit raptor characteristics or have developed into grounddwellers and coursers Unusually but typically for the whole cuckoo family are the differences in brood care behaviour in the individual genera described But we get important indications on possible transitional stages to brood parasitism from considering not only the diverse spectrum of brood biology of the extant cuckoo species but also the remnants of past brood care behaviour in brood parasitising cuckoo species as well as from comparing the size form and colouring of eggs of selfincubating and brood parasitising species From this we can conclude that the ancestors of brood parasitising cuckoo species were not brood parasites and that symbiotic living patterns such as cooperative breeding and helperspecies came before the socalled parasitismThe European cuckoo Cuculus canorus cannot be taken to represent the whole cuckoo family It is much more the end product of a long evolutionary history The large number of selfincubating cuckoos indicates that in the cuckoo family brood parasitism itself was not developed preferentially And because only one percent of the almost 10000 bird species are obligate brood parasites it appears that brood parasitism is only a secondary phenomenon in the whole bird worldThis work was occasioned by a conversation between Goethe and Johann Peter Eckermann on 8 October 1827 In this extensive ornithological conversation about the cuckoo we can sense how close Goethe and his young secretary an ornithologist had intuitiver approached the true core of evolution For this conversation unfolded in a great are from the extreme brood parasitism of the cuckoo to mutual helping in the world of birds}
}