Animal signals

Aggressiveness as a component of fighting ability in pigs using a game-theoretical framework

“…This is similar to the findings of Bolhuis, Schouten, Schrama, and Wiegant (2005) that proactive pigs initiated more fights but did not acquire higher social ranks. As outlined above, this could be seen as a dishonest or unreliable signal of fighting ability whereas it is an honest signal of intent (Adams & Mesterton-Gibbons, 1995;Laidre & Johnstone, 2013;Sz amad o, 2000). It may have been that these animals were more willing to engage in aggression (Hofmann & Schildberger, 2001), which would be in line with the measure of aggressiveness from the RI test.…”

“…Guderley & Couture, 2005). Rather than viewing aggressiveness as a component of RHP the aggressiveness displayed by an individual can also be viewed as a signal of intent (Laidre & Johnstone, 2013;Searcy & Nowicki, 2005). More aggressive pigs were more likely to initiate biting, which would reflect an honest signal of their intention to attack.…”

Phenotypic Plasticity Confers Multiple Fitness Benefits to a Mimic

“…These uses of deception, however, bear a common risk: if deceptive signals are used too frequently or out of context, receivers can learn to recognize them and eventually ignore or even punish the signaler [1][2][3]10]. Animals are known to ''negotiate'' such deceptive constraints with genetic adaptations (i.e., polymorphisms) [6] or by opportunistically switching between deceptive and nondeceptive signals [1,7,8].…”

“…Animal communication is often deceptive; however, such dishonesty can become ineffective if it is used too often, is used out of context, or is too easy to detect [1][2][3]. Mimicry is a common form of deception, and most mimics gain the greatest fitness benefits when they are rare compared to their models [3,4].…”

Response to: Commentary: The use of referential gestures in ravens (Corvus corax) in the wild

“…2 Behavioural displays have been traditionally defined as conspicuous stereotyped movements performed in special contexts with apparent communicative functions (Shettleworth, 2009). They can provide several kinds of information concurrently (e.g., a display of a chimpanzee male combines both acoustic and visual components) and may have been shaped by natural selection to convey that specific information (Bradbury and Vehrencamp, 1998;Laidre and Johnstone, 2013).…”