Duration of ‘peeks’ in ducks: how much time do Common Pochards <i>Aythya ferina</i> spend with an eye open while in a sleeping posture?

Novčić, Ivana; Krunić, Sara; Stanković, Daliborka; Hauber, Márk E.

doi:10.1080/00063657.2020.1808590

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Vigilance refers to monitoring the environment with the aim of gathering information on predators, conspecifics, and food sources (Guillemain et al, 2003; Hilton et al, 1999; Robinette & Ha, 2001). Although vigilance brings clear fitness benefits (Beauchamp, 2015), it also interferes with other biologically important behaviors—to inspect their surroundings, animals typically need to interrupt activities such as foraging, sleeping, or grooming (Blanchard et al, 2017; Fernández‐Juricic et al, 2004; Novčić et al, 2020). Nevertheless, through group living, animals may reduce individual vigilance due to several antipredator mechanisms acting within groups—the collective detection of predators, the dilution effect, or the confusion of predators—that allow group members to allocate less time to inspection of the environment without exposing themselves to greater predation risk (Beauchamp, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Black‐headed gulls synchronize vigilance with their nearest neighbor irrespective of the neighbor's relative position

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Behavioral synchronization refers to actions conducted simultaneously by two or more individuals at the same place. Through behavioral synchronization, animals may increase social cohesion of their groups or achieve antipredator and foraging benefits. We examined whether black‐headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) synchronized vigilance with their nearest neighbors and whether synchronization was affected by the neighbor's relative position. We predicted that (1) the synchronization of vigilance is less likely when neighbors are positioned behind focal individuals, i.e., within the blind sector of their visual field, and that (2) birds may show preference for copying vigilance when neighbors are situated at one side due to known laterality in avian eye use for antipredator vigilance. Data were obtained for 46 pairs of individuals—focal gulls and their nearest neighbors—through the observation of video‐recorded material. Gulls significantly synchronized vigilance with their nearest neighbors irrespective of the neighbor's relative spatial position—the odds that the focal individual would scan its environment were increased almost three times if the nearest neighbor was also vigilant. Contrary to our predictions, however, we did not find evidence that synchronization of vigilance in gulls was dependent on their nearest neighbor's relative position, which could be due to several reasons: (i) gulls may pay attention not only to their nearest neighbors but also to more distant ones and/or (ii) gulls may have reacted to some cues other than visual, such as alarm sounds. Although the mechanism of synchronization in gulls remains unknown, by being vigilant at the same time as other group members, the gulls may achieve additional antipredator benefits.

show abstract