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3 news posts in Frontiers in Ethology

Male chicks play more than females. Image credit: Rebecca Oscarsson

Why do male chicks play more than females? Study finds answers in distant ancestor

Researchers observed the frequency of play by aged chicks between six and 53 days old. Males engaged more frequently in social and object play than females, but there was no difference in the frequency of locomotor play. The researchers concluded that these patterns can be explained by the strong sexual dimorphism of adult junglefowl, the ancestors of domestic chickens. This means that male chicks benefit more from practicing skills related to physical ability and social tactics.

Peregrine falcons set off false alarms to make prey easier to catch

by Angharad Brewer Gillham, Frontiers science writer Image: US Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region, public domain Can clever predators manipulate prey into taking bigger risks, making them easier to hunt? Scientists have found that, by carrying out attacks which force Pacific dunlins into exhausting evasive maneuvers, peregrine falcons increase the likelihood of successfully hunting those dunlins later. The prey birds are tired out or forced to forage at more dangerous times. Predators must eat to survive — and to survive, prey must avoid being eaten. One theory, the Wolf-Mangel model, suggests predators could use false attacks to tire prey out or force them to take bigger risks, but this has been hard to show in practice. Now, scientists observing peregrine falcons have found evidence that they deliberately exhaust their prey to improve later hunting success. “Although predators are imagined as clever in novels and movies, like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, empirical biologists are generally not inclined to give much credence to such ideas,” said Dr Ronald Ydenberg of Simon Fraser University, lead author of the study in Frontiers in Ethology. “I have often been puzzled when watching raptors by aspects of their behavior, such as prominent perching […]

Stressed rattlesnakes found to calm down in the company of a nearby ‘friend’

By Deborah Pirchner, Frontiers science writer Image: Jasper Nance/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) When a creature’s stress levels decrease because of the presence of a companion, it is known as social buffering. In highly social animals, such as mammals and birds, this phenomenon is well studied. Now, researchers have examined social buffering in rattlesnakes and found that the presence of a second snake significantly reduced rattlesnakes’ change in heart rates after they experienced disturbance. It is the first evidence of social buffering in reptiles. When animals suffer from acute or chronic stress, they produce more hormones causing shifts in the nervous system, immune response, and behavior. Some animals, if they are in the presence of a conspecific, can modulate their response to buffer stress. This is known as social buffering. There is some research suggesting that snakes can exhibit complex social behavior. Nevertheless, social buffering in reptiles, as well as in other asocial organisms and solitary foragers, hasn’t been studied extensively. Now, researchers in the US have examined if rattlesnakes inhabiting Southern California use social buffering to alleviate acute stress. “We showed that when two snakes were together and experienced a stressful situation, they could buffer each other’s stress response, much […]