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- Title
UV reflecting vole scent marks attract a passerine, the great grey shrike Lanius excubitor.
- Authors
Probst, Remo; Pavlicev, Mihaela; Viitala, Jussi
- Abstract
Diurnal raptors have been shown to use ultraviolet vision and UV-reflecting vole scent marks to find suitable hunting areas. We studied if a passerine species, the great grey shrike Lanius excubitor that uses voles as its primary food, may also detect prey-patches in the same way. We conducted a laboratory experiment with ten shrikes. Each individual shrike had four options to choose from: (1) scent marks with UV light, (2) scent marks without UV light, (3) clean arena with UV light, and (4) clean arena without UV light. The birds preferred the scent-marked arena with UV light as measured by the number of scans and the time spent above it. Therefore, we suggest that great grey shrike probably uses UV cues to gain information on vole locations and abundance.
- Subjects
PREDATION; VOLE behavior; LANIUS; ULTRAVIOLET radiation
- Publication
Journal of Avian Biology, 2002, Vol 33, Issue 4, p437
- ISSN
0908-8857
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1034/j.1600-048X.2002.02760.x