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Description
Programme 5: Happy Families. A scene of domestic bliss: mum and dad busily bringing food to the nest while the young chicks grow bigger everyday. Well, perhaps not quite so happy families, especial...ly if a cuckoo has been in town. Reed warbler parents can expend huge amounts of energy everyday rearing a monster chick that is nothing to do with them and that has callously killed their own young. But in other animal societies mum and dad have numerous helpers who collect food and care for their young. Meerkat parents in Africa show what benefits an extended family can bring. Programme 6: Food Is Not For Free. Feeding is a very dangerous activity for many animals. If your attention is on eating then it isn't on what predators are around sizing you up for dinner! Feeding comes at a cost. Spiny lobsters screech like a violin to scare off predators while meerkats keep lookouts posted. Small migrant birds travel many thousands of kilometres over the earth in search of the richest food supplies, often at great danger to themselves. But sea otters become sea food specialists in one area, concentrating on one type of shellfish to eat, passing on their knowledge of fishing through the generations
Metadata describing this Open University audio programme
First transmission date: 2005-12-19
Published: 2005
Rights Statement: Rights owned or controlled by The Open University
Restrictions on use: This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages.
Duration: 00:54:40
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Track listing:
track listing for this programme
Track 1 Programme 5: Happy Families
Track 2 Programme 6: Food Is Not For Free
Producer: The BBC Natural History Unit
Contributor: Aubrey Manning
Publisher: BBC Open University
Subject terms: Animal behaviour; Natural history
Production number: AUDA055B
Available to public: no