Foraging and Calling Behavior of Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) in Response to the Head Orientation of Potential Predators
Foraging and Calling Behavior of Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) in Response to the Head Orientation of Potential Predators
复制标题
卡罗莱纳山雀 (Poecile carolinensis) 响应潜在捕食者头部方向的觅食和呼叫行为
作者：
T. Freeberg;D. Book;Rebecca L. Weiner;W. Koenig
当动物发现捕食者时，它们会改变自己的行为以避免被捕食。然而，对于被捕食物种是否会根据捕食者的身体和行为线索改变它们的行为，人们知之甚少。最近的研究表明，簇状山雀，一种小型鸣禽，当它们发现潜在的捕食者正对着它们正在使用的喂食器时，与潜在的捕食者背对着喂食器相比，会减少它们的觅食行为，增加它们的叫声率。在这里，我们测试了相关的卡罗莱纳山雀，Poecile carolinensis，是否不仅对捕食者模型的存在敏感，而且对其面部/头部方向敏感。虽然山雀与山雀密切相关，但最近对不同种群的研究表明，山雀对涉及捕食者的危险环境的反应与山雀不同。我们在鸟类觅食的食料附近进行了两次实地研究。在研究一中，一个戴着面具的人类观察者站在喂食器附近。在研究二中，一个家猫模型被放置在喂食器附近。在这两项研究中，潜在的威胁性刺激面朝喂食器或背对喂食器。在两项研究中，当潜在捕食者存在时，山雀对喂食器的回避程度更高，当潜在捕食者朝向喂食器时，山雀对喂食器的回避程度最高。研究1中，潜在捕食者的面部取向也会影响山雀的鸣叫行为。这些结果表明，像山雀一样，山雀表现出对捕食风险敏感的觅食和呼叫行为，与潜在威胁的面部和头部方向有关。这些小鸟似乎注意到潜在捕食者可能的视觉空间。对捕食者行为和身体姿势等线索的敏感性必须成为我们反捕食者行为系统理论和模型的核心。
When animals detect predators they modify their behavior to avoid predation. However, less is known about whether prey species modify their behavior in response to predator body and behavioral cues. Recent studies indicated that tufted titmice, a small songbird, decreased their foraging behavior and increased their calling rates when they detected a potential predator facing toward a feeder they were using, compared to a potential predator facing away from that feeder. Here, we tested whether related Carolina chickadees, Poecile carolinensis, were also sensitive not just to the presence of a predator model, but to its facial/head orientation. Although chickadees are closely related to titmice, recent studies in different populations suggest chickadees respond to risky contexts involving predators differently than titmice. We conducted two field studies near feeders the birds were exploiting. In Study One, a mask-wearing human observer stood near the feeder. In Study Two, a model of a domestic cat was positioned near the feeder. In both studies, the potential threatening stimulus either faced toward or faced away from the feeder. Chickadees avoided the feeder more in both studies when the potential predator was present, and showed strongest feeder avoidance when the potential predator faced toward the feeder. Chickadee calling behavior was also affected by the facial orientation of the potential predator in Study 1. These results suggest that, like titmice, chickadees exhibit predation-risk-sensitive foraging and calling behavior, in relation to facial and head orientation of potential threats. These small birds seem to attend to the likely visual space of potential predators. Sensitivity to predator cues like behavior and body posture must become more central to our theories and models of anti-predator behavioral systems.