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- Title
Signals of need and quality: Atlantic puffin chicks can beg and boast.
- Authors
Rector, Megan E.; Walsh, Carolyn J.; Kouwenberg, Amy-Lee; Fitzsimmons, Michelle G.; Storey, Anne E.
- Abstract
Our study is the first to show that chicks use 2 different begging calls to signal parents about both their hunger and overall quality. Atlantic puffin parents can adjust feeding rates based on these chick signals so as to feed screeching (hungry) chicks when food is plentiful and preferentially feed peeping (high quality) chicks when food is scarce.Need and hunger models of honest begging predict that lower-quality offspring should call more, or beg, to signal their poor body condition or hunger. In contrast, quality models of begging predict that offspring of higher fitness should call more, or boast, to signal their viability to parents. We observed 2 types of calls in Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) chicks: a shorter peep call and a longer screech call. Poorly fed chicks screeched during a higher proportion of parental visits than well-fed chicks. Food-supplemented chicks showed a decrease in the proportion of food visits with screech calls, whereas control chicks did not. Chicks in good body condition peeped more than chicks in poor body condition and these chicks showed a greater increase in the peep call rate after supplemental feeding than chicks that started off in poorer condition. Screech calls may signal need and/or hunger to parents, whereas peep calls may signal chick quality. This combination of signals should allow parents to make strategic resource-based decisions, allocating more food to hungry or lower-quality chicks when resources are abundant and preferentially feeding high-quality chicks when resources are scarce.
- Subjects
ATLANTIC puffin; PUFFINS; ALCIDAE; HORNED puffin; BEGGING; ANIMAL behavior
- Publication
Behavioral Ecology, 2014, Vol 25, Issue 3, p496
- ISSN
1045-2249
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/beheco/aru009