Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Antipredator behavior of newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster) against snakes.


ABSTRACT: Newts and salamanders show remarkable diversity in antipredator behavior, developed to enhance their chemical defenses and/or aposematism. The present study reports on the antipredator behavior of newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster) in response to snakes. Newts displayed a significant amount of tail-wagging and tail-undulation in response to a contact stimulus from the snake's tongue, which is a snake-specific predator stimulus, as compared to a control stimulus (behavioral scores: tongue, 1.05 ± 0.41; control, 0.15 ± 0.15). Newts that were kept in warm temperature conditions, 20°C (at which snakes are active in nature), performed tail displays more frequently than newts kept in low-temperature conditions, 4°C (at which snakes are inactive in nature). Our results suggest that the tail displays of C. pyrrhogaster could function as an antipredator defense; they direct a snake's attention to its tail to prevent the snake from attacking more vulnerable body parts. We also discussed the reason for inter-populational variation in the tendency of newts to perform tail displays.

SUBMITTER: Mochida K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8629279 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC5264602 | biostudies-literature
| PRJNA288378 | ENA
| PRJNA288511 | ENA
| PRJDB14250 | ENA
| S-EPMC9586028 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4436847 | biostudies-literature
| PRJNA231688 | ENA
| S-EPMC4776240 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4895332 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8698868 | biostudies-literature