Extreme ectoparasitic behavior of Hood mockingbirds (<em>Mimus macdonaldi</em>) on marine iguanas (<em>Amblyrhynchus cristatus</em>) on the island of Espa&ntilde;ola, Galapagos

Abstract

Hood Mockingbirds, endemic to the island of Española in the Galapagos Archipelago, have been observed to be more aggressive than has been typically reported. Well beyond the typical “service” of removing ectoparasites from marine iguanas or bits of their shedding skin, and even the pecking at wounds to drink blood as reported for mockingbirds in highly restricted parts of these islands, some individuals on this particular island continue pecking at the relatively insensitive tail tips of these large lizards until they have removed several centimeters of tissue.

Keywords

• Cucuve
• Mimus
• ectoparasitismo
• iguanas marinas