Animal Behaviour最新文献

{"title":"Computational analyses of dynamic visual displays reveal diet-dependent male signalling in Rabidosa rabida wolf spiders","authors":"Noori Choi ,&nbsp;Dustin J. Wilgers ,&nbsp;Eileen A. Hebets","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123226","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123226","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Male courtship signals vary widely due to genetic, environmental and ecological influences. This study investigates how diet manipulation affects the dynamic visual components of multimodal courtship displays in male <em>Rabidosa rabida</em> wolf spiders. Using a Gaussian Hidden Markov Model (GHMM), we implemented an automated bottom-up approach to identify the hierarchical structure of foreleg movements during courtship. We then integrated unary and binary similarity measures to quantitatively compare these movements. Our results show that the GHMM-derived structural organization of foreleg movements closely aligns with classifications made by human observers. Furthermore, combining unary and binary similarity measures provides a robust framework for quantifying dynamic movements in animal communication. Notably, male foraging history influences both foreleg morphology and movement during courtship displays. This study enhances our understanding of the evolution of complex male courtship signals and offers a standardized framework for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123226"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Antipredator syndrome: modelling and testing behavioural, morphological and life history plasticity in tadpoles","authors":"Sergio Castellano,&nbsp;Luca Falbo,&nbsp;Olivier Friard","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123221","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tadpoles show various behavioural, morphological and life-history adaptations to evade predators or escape their attacks. These traits are costly and their expression involves trade-offs, resulting in predictable patterns of phenotypic integration. Within individuals, these patterns arise from plastic adjustments in traits in response to extrinsic factors, such as predation risk. In contrast, among individuals, they reflect differences in both extrinsic and intrinsic factors, such as resource availability or genetic quality. Here, we tested the hypothesis that these patterns of integration, both within and among individuals, directly depend on how tadpoles manage their energy budgets. Our approach was both theoretical and empirical. We created an optimality model for tadpole life history. This model examined two key parameters: the time spent feeding, which determined both the tadpole’s daily energy budget and the probability of encountering predators, and the portion of the daily energy budget allocated to developing defensive traits. While this distribution increased the likelihood of avoiding predator attacks, it also decreased growth and development rates. The model also considered two patterns of among-individual variation: variation in metabolic efficiency and metabolic capacity. From this model, we derived predictions about trait covariation within and among individuals. To test these predictions, we conducted an experiment using tadpoles of the brown frog, <em>Rana dalmatina</em>. We raised siblings either in the presence or absence of predators, and we repeatedly tested them in arenas both with and without caged predators. We observed a consistent relationship between theoretical and empirical findings at the individual level. Tadpoles that were raised with predators showed reduced activity, developed larger defensive traits (such as deeper tails and faster movements), grew more slowly and took longer to metamorphose than their control siblings. In both ontogenetic treatments, the observed among-individual covariation pattern supported the idea that tadpoles differed in metabolic efficiency rather than metabolic capacity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123221"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Male forehead gland scent may encode multiple information in the great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat, Hipposideros armiger","authors":"Congnan Sun ,&nbsp;Yang Wang ,&nbsp;Limin Wang ,&nbsp;Jeffrey R. Lucas ,&nbsp;Chengbo Zhuang ,&nbsp;Jinpu Li ,&nbsp;Chunmian Zhang ,&nbsp;Dongming Li","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123227","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123227","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intrasexual competition favours the evolution of pronounced individual identity and competitive ability badges. However, although olfactory signals play a role in territorial conflicts of many animals, the information content encoded in olfactory signals in the context of territorial conflicts is relatively unknown. Here, we used male great Himalayan leaf-nosed bats, <em>Hipposideros armiger</em>, to explore whether olfactory signals from the forehead gland encoded reliable information about a signaller's individual identity, physical condition, dominance status and physiological quality. We did this by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to quantify the chemical composition of the gland exudate and by examining the relationships between the proportions of 24 volatile compounds and physical condition (body condition index), dominance status (David's score) and physiological quality (immunocompetence, hormonal levels and resting metabolic rate). The results showed that there were significant differences in the concentrations and categories of compounds between individuals. Moreover, the proportions of many compounds correlated with David's score and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio. Our results indicate that olfactory signals of <em>H. armiger</em> could transmit information about individual identity, dominance rank and physiological quality and may work as a reliable ‘chemical ornament’ for male–male competition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123227"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185617","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of social transmission in the use of a new behaviour by killer whales in response to fisheries","authors":"Erwan Auguin ,&nbsp;Christophe Guinet ,&nbsp;Johann Mourier ,&nbsp;Eric E.G. Clua ,&nbsp;Nicolas Gasco ,&nbsp;Paul Tixier","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123228","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123228","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Human exploitation profoundly impacts ecosystems but can also provide novel feeding opportunities to which animals may respond by learning new foraging behaviours. Among these, feeding on fisheries catch or byproduct, a behaviour termed ‘depredation’, has been observed in many large marine predator species globally. However, for social species, how social transmission influences both the acquisition of and the level of engagement in such behaviour by individuals within populations remains poorly understood. In this study, we analysed 18 years (2005–2022) of photo-identification data, with a combination of both social and diffusion models, to assess the role of social transmission in the acquisition of depredation by social units of the killer whale population of the Crozet Islands, as well as the extent to which social units engaged in this behaviour once acquired. We found that an increasing number of social units acquired depredation behaviour over time and that they did so through learning from other units and independent learning. We also demonstrate that during the years following this acquisition, their level of engagement in depredation was influenced by social preferences, with closely associated units showing similar levels of depredation and certain units acting as structural key nodes facilitating the transmission of depredation within the network. However, past the year when the entire population had acquired depredation, we found that factors other than social transmission came into play to explain heterogeneity in depredation levels observed across social units. Together, these findings highlight the role of social dynamics in shaping species' response to human-induced changes in their environment and in leading to intrapopulation behavioural heterogeneity that can have major implications for the long-term conservation of top marine predator populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123228"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cue relevance during navigation is a function of scale and experience","authors":"Aaron R. Krochmal ,&nbsp;Timothy C. Roth II ,&nbsp;Nathaniel T. Simmons","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although some species exhibit simple or fixed responses to stimuli across all contexts, many species exhibit highly variable behavioural responses, where the relative importance of incoming sensory cues and prior experience varies with context. To address the complexity of how animals utilize real-time global and local cues and experience while navigating, we conducted two complementary field experiments on unrestrained, freely navigating turtles. We manipulated the availability of local and global cues and monitored the navigation abilities of individual eastern painted turtles, <em>Chrysemys picta</em>, under conditions where either all or only some turtles had prior experience. In the absence of experience and lacking all local cues, all turtles successfully navigated using a global cue alone. However, when animals were navigating familiar areas, they ignored the presence of an experimental global cue to which they had previously responded, suggesting the importance of previous knowledge (i.e. memory) during navigation. In contrast, turtles lacking experience successfully navigated using local cues, until presented with global ones, at which point, these turtles used only global ones. Together, these experiments allow us to address the relative importance of cue hierarchies used during decision making. These results demonstrate the value of learning and experience in navigation and the impact this experience has on the relative importance of global and local cues.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123225"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144185619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deep learning approach to detect and visualize sexual dimorphism in monomorphic species","authors":"Nicolas J. Silva ,&nbsp;André C. Ferreira ,&nbsp;Liliana R. Silva ,&nbsp;Samuel Perret ,&nbsp;Sonia Tieo ,&nbsp;Julien P. Renoult ,&nbsp;Rita Covas ,&nbsp;Claire Doutrelant","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123223","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123223","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sex recognition is facilitated by dimorphism in some traits. However, humans often fail to find the traits that allow distinction between sexes in other species. Deep learning has shown great application potential in identifying cryptic differences between sexes, but it has rarely been used to assess sexual dimorphism. In this study, the ability of a fine-tuned classification neural network, which is known as EfficientNet, to find differences between sexes in a species that appears monomorphic to humans, such as the sociable weaver, <em>Philetairus socius</em>, was evaluated. In addition, the benefits of the Grad-CAM visualization technique were assessed to understand which parts of the head of the individuals are used by the network to differentiate the sexes. We trained 10-fold cross-validation models on more than 4500 pictures of the head from more than 1300 individuals. Results show that the network can predict the sex of sociable weavers with an accuracy of 76%, which is considerably higher than humans' performance (56%). Moreover, the model was similarly good at predicting females and males. When interpreting the probability of being classified to one sex, our results further reveal the effect of the interaction of sex with age on the confidence score of the models, which shows that younger males are less masculine than older ones, and older females are more masculine than younger ones. Finally, using Grad-CAM, we found that the model mostly used the bill region to predict the sex of individuals. Overall, this work shows the potential application of artificial intelligence as a noninvasive sexing tool, surpassing human capabilities and aiding in pinpointing potential cryptic dimorphic body parts that have yet to be identified. Half of the world’s bird species appear sexually monomorphic to humans, and re-evaluation of species dimorphism with this type of methods could deepen our understanding of topics such as sex-specific selection on animal traits, behavioural differences and sex ratio variation across time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123223"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144170793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Association Page","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S0003-3472(25)00159-9","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S0003-3472(25)00159-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"224 ","pages":"Article 123232"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144169126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editors Page","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S0003-3472(25)00158-7","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S0003-3472(25)00158-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"224 ","pages":"Article 123231"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144169644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Use of exclusive roosting ranges in disc-winged bats, Thyroptera tricolor","authors":"Silvia Chaves-Ramírez ,&nbsp;Maria Sagot ,&nbsp;Hellen Solís Hernández ,&nbsp;Gloriana Chaverri","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123222","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123222","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Species displaying high levels of resource specialization frequently exhibit territorial behaviour to secure access to vital resources. Here we studied the roosting ranges of <em>T. tricolor</em>'s social groups, a bat species known for its specialization in using developing tubular leaves as roosts. Our main goal was to examine the potential occurrence of territoriality by analysing the extent of overlap between roosting ranges and its association with the daily availability of tubular leaves. We also explored the possible correlation between group size, the size of roosting ranges and the abundance of tubular leaves within these ranges. Our findings revealed that social groups maintained exclusive roosting areas, with minimal overlap observed among neighbouring groups, particularly when the density of roosting sites was moderate. No significant relationship was observed between group size and roosting range size or the number of tubular leaves within these ranges. Based on our results, we confidently propose the existence of territorial behaviour in this species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123222"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144147835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Relative amplitude modulation in woodpecker drums shows species-specific patterns","authors":"Amy R. Rutter,&nbsp;Matthew J. Fuxjager,&nbsp;Thomas J. Roberts","doi":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123206","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anbehav.2025.123206","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amplitude is one of several components that comprise multicomponent acoustic signals. We aimed to study relative amplitude modulation over the duration of an acoustic signal that woodpeckers produce to defend their territories, the drum. Woodpecker drumming is a tractable system for this type of analysis because drum recordings are readily available through public databases and the physical mechanism for amplitude generation is easily observable and modelled. Accordingly, we characterized relative amplitude modulation of drums from eight woodpecker species by fitting models to the amplitude modulation pattern and found that species' modulation patterns (1) showed consistency within species and (2) differed between species. Functionally, relative amplitude modulation could showcase motor skill when individuals reach peak amplitude quickly or maintain a high amplitude. Alternatively, amplitude modulation could be used to evaluate individual quality through consistently repeating drums without mistakes. Our findings highlight the importance of studying both the mechanical production and functional role of multicomponent signals to understand how a signalling system works.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50788,"journal":{"name":"Animal Behaviour","volume":"225 ","pages":"Article 123206"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144138354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}