Climate change will remove birds' control over hatching eggs: study

By Peter Hannam
Updated February 27 2016 - 10:13am, first published February 3 2016 - 12:35pm
Early hatchlings catch the worm and then some.  Photo: Macquarie University
Early hatchlings catch the worm and then some. Photo: Macquarie University
Zebra finches are hardy birds but a warming climate will affect even them. Photo: Pat Scala
Zebra finches are hardy birds but a warming climate will affect even them. Photo: Pat Scala
Zebra finches in the wild, at the Ethabuka Station's flora and fauna reserve. Photo: Peter Morris
Zebra finches in the wild, at the Ethabuka Station's flora and fauna reserve. Photo: Peter Morris
Early hatchlings catch the worm - and then some.  Photo: Macquarie University
Early hatchlings catch the worm - and then some. Photo: Macquarie University
Bird in the hand: Professor Simon Griffith and one of his zebra finches. Photo: Macquarie University
Bird in the hand: Professor Simon Griffith and one of his zebra finches. Photo: Macquarie University

It's an odd quirk of nature that birds - even chickens - typically lay just one egg a day, and many species rely on all the eggs in the clutch hatching on the same day.