Thanks go to Kyle for bringing to my attention an interesting story about about the ongoing evolutionary wars out there (the ones between animals - not the ones between people). In this case, the strategy is brood parasitism, in which a parastic species has evolved a life history strategy that allows it to use another species to rear its young. It's a great idea (biologically speaking) if you can get away with it. Here, a brood parasitic catfish that utilizes mouth brooding cichlids in the Great Lakes of the African Rift Valley...
If you're a bird watcher, you're probably struck by the similarities between the strategy employed here and those of the brown-headed cowbird (very abundant locally right now). Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of a wide range of other species. The eggs hatch early, the nestlings grow fast, and often wind up pushing other eggs and nestlings out of the nest. Here's some video of a cowbird laying an egg in an cardinal nest.
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