Delayed juvenile behavioral development and prolonged dependence are adaptations to desert life in the grey falcon  

作　　者：Jonny SCHOENJAHN Chris R.PAVEY Gimme H.WALTER 

机构地区：[1]School of Biological Sciences,The University of Queensland,Brisbane,QLD 4072,Australia [2]CSIRO Land and Water,Darwin,NT 0822,Australia

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2022年第6期679-687,共9页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：This work was supported by the Dampier Bunbury Pipeline,Perth,Western Australia;The Peregrine Fund,Boise ID;the Department of Biodiversity,Conservation and Attractions,Western Australia.J.S.was supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

摘　　要：Rapid learning in the young of most endothermic animals can be expected to be favored by natural selection because early independence reduces the period of vulnerability.Cases of comparatively slow juvenile development continue,therefore,to attract scientific attention.In most species of birds,including raptors,the young depend on their parents for some time after fledging for the provisioning of food and for protection while they learn to become nutritionally and otherwise independent.Among raptors,post-fledging dependence periods that exceed 6 months are exclusive to the largest species and these have reproductive cycles that exceed 12 months.By contrast,young of the medium-sized grey falcon Falco hypoleucos have been reported in close company with their parents up to 12 months after fledging,that is,at a time when the adults are expected to breed again.We investigated the occurrence and characteristics of prolonged adult–juvenile association relative to other falcons and similar-sized raptors.We found that the behavioral development of grey falcon young is extremely delayed,and that they even depend nutritionally on their parents for up to 12 months after fledging.We suggest that these 2 distinctive features are,ultimately,adaptations of the grey falcon to its extreme environment,Australia’s arid and semi-arid zone,one of the hottest environments in the world.

关 键 词：arid environment behavioral adaptation bird of prey post-fledging period 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]