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1 December 2007 Nesting and Cooperative Breeding Behaviours of a High-Altitude Babbler, Tibetan Babax Babax koslowi
Xin Lu, Xuhui Ma, Liqing Fan
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The Tibetan Babax is a high-altitude babbler endemic to the NE Tibetan plateau. This is the first report of the species nesting behaviour: the study was based on information gathered during 2005 and 2006 in the upper Mekong River basin (32°N, 96°E, 3700–4300 m.a.s.l.), S Qinghai. The birds nested low (< 2 m) in conifers and laid eggs from early May to late July. The clutch size was 3–4 eggs. Nestlings fledged at 13–14 days, when they reached 52% of the adult female weight. In all four nesting attempts (three nests and one post-fledging social unit), more than two birds (3-6) were observed feeding the young or guarding the nest against conspecific intruders or potential predators. These results indicate that all three member species of the genus Babax (the two others are the high-altitude Giant Babax and the lowland Chinese Babax) display a cooperative breeding system. This provides a good example of phylogeny as a component responsible for the evolution of cooperative breeding behaviour.

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Xin Lu, Xuhui Ma, and Liqing Fan "Nesting and Cooperative Breeding Behaviours of a High-Altitude Babbler, Tibetan Babax Babax koslowi," Acta Ornithologica 42(2), 181-185, (1 December 2007). https://doi.org/10.3161/068.042.0213
Received: 1 March 2007; Accepted: 1 November 2007; Published: 1 December 2007
KEYWORDS
Babax koslowi
cooperative breeding
nesting biology
phylogeny
Tibetan Babax
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