Dataset Information

Eavesdropping grey squirrels infer safety from bird chatter.

ABSTRACT: When multiple species are vulnerable to a common set of predators, it is advantageous for individuals to recognize information about the environment provided by other species. Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) and other small mammals have been shown to exploit heterospecific alarm calls as indicators of danger. However, many species-especially birds-emit non-alarm auditory cues such as contact calls when perceived predator threat is low, and such public information may serve as cues of safety to eavesdroppers. We tested the hypothesis that eavesdropping gray squirrels respond to "bird chatter" (contact calls emitted by multiple individuals when not under threat of predation) as a measure of safety. We compared vigilance behavior of free-ranging squirrels in the presence of playbacks of bird chatter vs non-masking ambient background noise lacking chatter after priming them with a playback recording of a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) call. Squirrels responded to the hawk call playbacks by significantly increasing the proportion of time they spent engaged in vigilance behaviors and the number of times they looked up during otherwise non-vigilance behaviors, indicating that they perceived elevated predation threat prior to the playbacks of chatter or ambient noise. Following the hawk playback, squirrels exposed to the chatter treatment engaged in significantly lower levels of vigilance behavior (i.e., standing, freezing, fleeing, looking up) and the decay in vigilance behaviors was more rapid than in squirrels exposed to the ambient noise treatment, suggesting squirrels use information contained in bird chatter as a cue of safety. These findings suggest that eastern gray squirrels eavesdrop on non-alarm auditory cues as indicators of safety and adjust their vigilance level in accordance with the vigilance level of other species that share the same predators.

SUBMITTER: Lilly MV

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6726132 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Eavesdropping grey squirrels infer safety from bird chatter.

Lilly Marie V MV Lucore Emma C EC Tarvin Keith A KA

PloS one 20190904 9

When multiple species are vulnerable to a common set of predators, it is advantageous for individuals to recognize information about the environment provided by other species. Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) and other small mammals have been shown to exploit heterospecific alarm calls as indicators of danger. However, many species-especially birds-emit non-alarm auditory cues such as contact calls when perceived predator threat is low, and such public information may serve as cues ...[more]

PMID: 31483829

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Sexual selection has been hypothesised as favouring mate choice resulting in production of viable offspring with genotypes providing high pathogen resistance. Specific pathogen recognition is mediated by genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) encoding proteins fundamental for adaptive immune response in jawed vertebrates. MHC genes may also play a role in odour-based individual recognition and mate choice, aimed at avoiding inbreeding. MHC genes are known to be involved in mate choice in a number of species, with 'good genes' (absolute criteria) and 'complementary genes' (self-referential criteria) being used to explain MHC-based mating. Here, we focus on the effect of morphological traits and variation and genetic similarity between individuals in MHC class IIB (MHCIIB) exon 2 on mating in a free-living population of a monogamous bird, the grey partridge. RESULTS:We found no evidence for absolute mate choice criteria as regards grey partridge MHCIIB genotypes, i.e., number and occurrence of amino acid variants, though red chroma of the spot behind eyes was positively associated with male pairing success. On the other hand, mate choice at MHCIIB was based on relative criteria as females preferentially paired with more dissimilar males having a lower number of shared amino acid variants. This observation supports the 'inbreeding avoidance' and 'complementary genes' hypotheses. CONCLUSIONS:Our study provides one of the first pieces of evidence for MHC-based mate choice for genetic complementarity in a strictly monogamous bird. The statistical approach employed can be recommended for testing mating preferences in cases where availability of potential mates (recorded with an appropriate method such as radio-tracking) shows considerable temporal variation. Additional genetic analyses using neutral markers may detect whether MHC-based mate choice for complementarity emerges as a by-product of general inbreeding avoidance in grey partridges.

Dataset Information

Eavesdropping grey squirrels infer safety from bird chatter.

Publications

Eavesdropping grey squirrels infer safety from bird chatter.

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