Kleptoparasitism or
cleptoparasitism (literally,
parasitism by
theft) is a form of
feeding in which one animal takes
prey or other food from another that has caught, collected, or otherwise prepared the food, including stored food (as in the case of
cuckoo bees, which lay their eggs on the pollen masses made by other bees). The term is also used to describe the stealing of
nest material or other inanimate objects from one animal by another.