Do swallows(Hirundo daurica)use the visual cue of hatchling down-feathers to discriminate parasite alien nestlings?  

作　　者：Jiaojiao WANG Qihong LI Longwu WANG Canchao YANG Wei LIANG 

机构地区：[1]Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands,College of Life Sciences,Hainan Normal University,Haikou,China [2]State Forestry Administration of China Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Conservation in Mountainous Areas of Southwest Karst,School of Life Sciences,Guizhou Normal University,Guiyang,China

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2020年第5期441-446,共6页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31672303 to C.Y.and 31772453 to W.L.);the current laws of China.Fieldwork was carried out under permission from Zhalong National Nature Reserve,P.R.China.

摘　　要：Egg recognition is a variable but common anti-parasitism defense among different species of birds with brood parasites.In contrast,nestling recognition is rare.Very few studies have found nestling recognition in brood parasite hosts and determined the rejection mechanism behind this behavior.Hosts may use the number of hatchling downfeathers to reject parasite nestlings.We tested whether hatchling down-feathers is a visual cue for the red-rumped swallow,a host that can recognize and reject parasite nestlings.Our results indicated that red-rumped swallows do not recognize foreign nestlings based on hatchling down-feathers.The closed nest structure and hatchling morph may explain the absence of such a mechanism.None of the rejection mechanisms found in previous studies could explain the nestling recognition in swallows.Olfactory cues,tactile cues,or other visual cues,except for single nestling or hatchling down-feathers,may provide nestling recognition in red-rumped swallows.More study is needed to evaluate these possibilities.

关 键 词：avian brood parasitism egg recognition recognition cue rejection mechani 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]