Avian abuse: Nazca boobies and the ‘cycle of violence’

The Nazca booby is a snazzy bird with a white glossy body and a Zorro-like mask around its eyes. Is it hiding something? Yes.

Nazca boobies (Sula granti) are beautiful birds, but with a very dark side.

A female lays two eggs days apart, the second as insurance against the death of the first. But if both eggs hatch, chick A will expel chick B from the nest to face certain death.