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- Title
A multifunctional visual display in elegant trogons targets conspecifics and heterospecifics.
- Authors
Bitton, Pierre-Paul; Doucet, Stéphanie M.
- Abstract
Animals rarely use the same behavioral display to convey information to members of their own species and members of other species. Using behavioral observations and an experiment, we show that a Neotropical bird conspicuously raises its tail to signal male and female conspecifics in various contexts, and to convey to potential predators that a capture attempt would be unprofitable. Such behaviors could be more common than suggested by the current literature but have not been properly studiedAvian visual displays often target either conspecifics or heterospecifics, but few visual displays have been described where both conspecifics and heterospecifics are the intended receivers. In this study, combining observational and experimental approaches, we present evidence that a tail-raising display performed by the elegant trogon (Trogon elegans) is used in multiple contexts and is directed at conspecifics and heterospecifics. We observed tail-raising displays toward conspecifics in both intersexual and intrasexual contexts, as well as toward heterospecifics. Displays performed toward heterospecifics were directed at humans, monkeys, or birds of prey, all of which could have been perceived as potential predators. We experimentally tested the possible functions of tail-raising behavior in the presence of a predator by presenting elegant trogons with models of a natural predator and a nonthreatening control. Tail-raising displays were much more likely to occur when trogons were in the presence of a predator model (48% of trials) than a control model (6% of trials). The presence of conspecifics did not influence tail-raising propensity (conspecifics present: 44% of trials and conspecifics absent: 50% of trials). Our results suggest that tail raising in trogons is a multifunctional visual display that may function as an intersexual and intrasexual conspecific signal as well as a pursuit-deterrent signal directed at predators.
- Subjects
TROGONS; TROGONIFORMES; BIRDS of prey; PREDATORY animals; BIRD behavior
- Publication
Behavioral Ecology, 2014, Vol 25, Issue 1, p27
- ISSN
1045-2249
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/beheco/art065