Nuthatches vary their alarm calls based upon the source of the eavesdropped signals

Animal alarm calls can contain detailed information about a predator’s threat, and heterospecific eavesdropping on these signals creates vast communication networks. While eavesdropping is common, this indirect public information is often less reliable than direct predator observations. Red-breasted...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2020-01, Vol.11 (1), p.526-526, Article 526
Main Authors: Carlson, Nora V, Greene, Erick, Templeton, Christopher N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/853
631/158/856
631/601/18
64
Acoustic Stimulation
Acoustics
Alarm systems
Animal Communication
Animals
Calling behavior
Communication networks
Cues
Eavesdropping
Humanities and Social Sciences
Information processing
Mobbing
multidisciplinary
Owls
Passeriformes - physiology
Predation
Predators
Predatory Behavior
Public information
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sitta canadensis
Vocalization behavior
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Animal alarm calls can contain detailed information about a predator’s threat, and heterospecific eavesdropping on these signals creates vast communication networks. While eavesdropping is common, this indirect public information is often less reliable than direct predator observations. Red-breasted nuthatches ( Sitta canadensis ) eavesdrop on chickadee mobbing calls and vary their behaviour depending on the threat encoded in those calls. Whether nuthatches propagate this indirect information in their own calls remains unknown. Here we test whether nuthatches propagate direct (high and low threat raptor vocalizations) or indirect (high and low threat chickadee mobbing calls) information about predators differently. When receiving direct information, nuthatches vary their mobbing calls to reflect the predator’s threat. However, when nuthatches obtain indirect information, they produce calls with intermediate acoustic features, suggesting a more generic alarm signal. This suggests nuthatches are sensitive to the source and reliability of information and selectively propagate information in their own mobbing calls. Animals can obtain information on predation risk directly from observing predators or indirectly from the alarm calls of others. Here, the authors show that red-breasted nuthatches encode information on risk in their own alarm calls differently depending on the source of the information.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-020-14414-w