January 9, 2004

Make Way for Genes and Ducklings

By MARLENE ZUK

Say the word "imprinting," and most people envision little ducklings following their mother, or maybe following the ethologist and Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz, who studied the phenomenon in the 1930s using ducks and geese. Baby birds, like many other creatures, imprint on their mother (or the crafty investigator) during the critical period shortly after hatching. If they see a duck, they will later follow a duck. If they see Lorenz or a toy truck, they will follow the scientist or the