AD animal senses, warning signals

Question 1

What can animals communicate?

Answer 1

Aggression
Sex
Identity (individual/group/species/etc.)
Status
Need
Social information
“Auto-communication”

Question 2

Most signals probably evolved by ritualisation of existing cues
What are some Cues revealing autonomic stimulation?

Answer 2

Respiration –e.g. calls, growls, gill-cover flapping

Urination/defecation –e.g. chemical marking of territories

Thermoregulation –e.g. raising hair/feathers

Pupil dilation –cue to “friendliness” / arousal

Question 3

What are some Ritualisation of cues revealing changes in behaviour?

Answer 3

Intention movements –e.g. flight or fight intention movements

Self-protective movements –e.g. scalp retraction in primates

“Displacement” behaviour = interrupting one behaviour with another apparently irrelevant one –e.g. displacement preening in wildfowl mating displays

Question 4

What are 4 ways in which ritualised signals differ from cues?

Answer 4

1. Conspicuousness - Increases detectability
2. Redundancy
   e. g. repetition, multi-modal signals, multi-element signals
3. Stereotypy = very little variation
4. Alerting components
   e. g. conspicuous movements/sounds

Question 5

How does ritualisation aid communication?

Answer 5

Increasing costs. costs can ensure honesty

Increasing efficacy (effective transfer of information)

Increase ability of signallers to manipulate receivers …& prevent receivers resisting their message

Question 6

Signals evolve to maximise transmission & minimise eavesdropping eg conspicuousness to predators
Give an example

Answer 6

Guppies exposed to different predators have different colour patterns

Predators drive selection for use of “private wavelengths”

Question 7

Vervet monkeys have an example of coding. How?

Answer 7

Leaned calls for specific circumstances:

‘Leopard’ - head for the trees

‘Snake’ - stand & search

‘Raptor’ - look at the sky

Question 8

What is aposematism?

Answer 8

Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating

Benefit = predator deterrence
Cost = conspicuousness

Question 9

How do warning signals work?

Answer 9

Unprofitable prey = toxic / distasteful / hard to catch

Conspicuous signal

• Depends on predator senses
• Signals can be “multimodal”

3. Predators “learn” the link between signal & profitability
   - Memory-based learning by individual predators
   - Selection against predators that eat unprofitable prey