User:Ethologyisfun31/Edit an article

Edit 1:
For example, when it comes to eggs, a bird can be made to prefer the artificial versions to their own, and humans can be similarly exploited by junk food. Organisms tend to show a preference for the stimulus properties (i.e. size, colour, etc) that have evolved in nature; but when offered an artificial exaggerated stimulus, animals will show behaviour in favour of the artificial stimulus, over the naturally occurring stimulus.

Edit 2:
In 1979, the term supernormal stimulus was used by Richard Dawkins and John Krebs to refer to the exaggeration of pre-existing signs induced by social parasites, noting the manipulation of baby birds (hosts) from these, to illustrate the effectiveness of those signals. An example of this is the Common Cuckoo brood parasite that develops a begging call mimicry of several nestlings of Reed Warblers, just approximately one week after hatching; this sound output of the parasite increases in frequency with maturity. Since this parasite tends to grow larger than the reed warbler nestlings, it can inherit a substantial amount of food from the host parent.