Snake-like calls in breeding tits  

作　　者：Anders Pape MøLLER Diego GIL Wei LIANG 

机构地区：[1]Ecologie Systematique Evolution,Universite Paris-Sud,CNRS,AgroParisTech,Universite Paris-Saclay,Orsay Cedex,F-91405,France [2]Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering,College of Life Sciences,Beijing Normal University,Beijing,100875,China [3]Departamento de Ecologia Evolutiva,Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales(CSIC),Madrid,E-28006,Spain and [4]Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands,College of Life Sciences,Hainan Normal University,Haikou,571158,China

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2021年第5期473-479,共7页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31472013 and 31772453 to W.L.).

摘　　要：Hole-nesting tits belonging to the family Paridae produce a hissing display that resembles the exhalatory hiss of a snake.When a predatory animal enters the nest hole of a tit,tits often hiss vigorously,while lunging their head forward and shaking their wings and tail,until the intruder retreats.We assessed the acoustic similarity between such hiss calls from 6 species of tits,snake hisses,and tit syllables used in alarm vocalizations,as well as white noise as a control.Tit hiss calls showed a high degree of similarity with snake hisses from 3 different snake families.Tit hisses had lower similarity to syllable alarm calls,suggesting convergence of tit hisses in their spectral structure.Hiss calls would only be effective in protecting nest boxes if nest predators responded to these calls.In order to test this hypothesis,we trained individual Swinhoe’s striped squirrels,Tamiops swinhoei hainanus,a common predator of egg and nestling tits,to feed at feeders in proximity to nest boxes.We compared the aversive response of squirrels to tit’s hiss calls and white noise,presented in random order.Squirrels showed a higher degree of avoidance of feeders when hiss calls were played back than when white noise was presented.In conclusion,our study suggests that hole-nesting birds have evolved convergent snake-like hiss calls,and that predators avoid to prey on the contents of nest boxes from which snake-like hisses emerge.

关 键 词：frequency-dependent selection hiss call MIMICRY SQUIRRELS TITS 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]