The Significance of the High‐intensity Alarm Call in Captured Passerines

Driver, Peter M.; Humphries, David

doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1969.tb02531.x

Cited by 37 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…For example, various frogs, birds, and mammals are known to produce loud distress calls when captured by a predator. These calls are variously labeled "fear," "distress," "desperation," or "death" screams and they are thought to function as a last-ditch attempt to startle or repel the predator sufficiently that it hesitates for an instant, or releases its grip marginally, or even accidentally drops its victim, allowing some opportunity for escape ͑Driver and Humphries, 1969;Kruuk, 1972;Schaller, 1972;Conover and Perito, 1981;Gochfeld, 1981;Conover, 1994;Wise et al, 1999͒. Although their detailed form can vary, they are commonly described as "sudden," "powerful," "high-intensity," and "piercing" calls ͑see Fig.…”

Section: B Alternative Functions Of Distress Screamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetries in the individual distinctiveness and maternal recognition of infant contact calls and distress screams in baboons

Rendall

Notman

Owren

2009

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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A key component of nonhuman primate vocal communication is the production and recognition of clear cues to social identity that function in the management of these species' individualistic social relationships. However, it remains unclear how ubiquitous such identity cues are across call types and age-sex classes and what the underlying vocal production mechanisms responsible might be. This study focused on two structurally distinct call types produced by infant baboons in contexts that place a similar functional premium on communicating clear cues to caller identity: ͑1͒ contact calls produced when physically separated from, and attempting to relocate, mothers and ͑2͒ distress screams produced when aggressively attacked by other group members. Acoustic analyses and field experiments were conducted to examine individual differentiation in single vocalizations of each type and to test mothers' ability to recognize infant calls. Both call types showed statistically significant individual differentiation, but the magnitude of the differentiation was substantially higher in contact calls. Mothers readily discriminated own-offspring contact calls from those of familiar but unrelated infants, but did not do so when it came to distress screams. Several possible explanations for these asymmetries in call differentiation and recognition are considered.

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Section: B Alternative Functions Of Distress Screamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetries in the individual distinctiveness and maternal recognition of infant contact calls and distress screams in baboons

Rendall

Notman

Owren

2009

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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“…Several hypotheses that are not mutually exclusive have been proposed to explain the adaptive function of screaming across animal taxa. For example, this behavior has been hypothesized to startle predators into releasing the caller (Driver and Humphries 1969;Perrone 1980;Conover 1994;Wise et al 1999), warn other birds, usually relatives, of the presence of predators (Rohwer et al 1976;Perrone 1980;Hill 1986;Branch and Freeberg 2012), call for help from conspecifics (Stefanski and Falls 1972;Chaiken 1992;Russ et al 1998;Lingle et al 2007b;Manno 2012), or attract secondary predators or other species to interfere with primary predators, thereby allowing the caller to escape (Perrone 1980;Högstedt 1983;Aubin 1991;Koenig et al 1991;Chu 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Habitats matter: the incidence of and response to fear screams in a habitat generalist, the vinous-throated parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus

Lee

Noh

et al. 2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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A fear scream is a specific vocalization produced by many animal taxa including humans when confronted with an immediate threat of death. We studied population variation in the incidence of fear screams and its correlation with habitat type using a habitat generalist bird species, the vinousthroated parrotbill (Paradoxornis webbianus). Playback experiments were also conducted to determine how conspecifics respond to scream calls in this species. Overall, about 21 % of parrotbills consistently produced fear screams while being handled. Neither morphological traits nor flock size was related to screaming tendency, but females tended to scream more than males. The propensity to scream also differed significantly between geographic groups, and, interestingly, this difference was closely related to habitat type; parrotbills in closed habitats such as reedbeds or mountain forests screamed more frequently than those in open habitats. Playback experiments showed that fear screams successfully elicited rapid vocal and behavioral responses from conspecifics. Consistent with the attraction hypothesis, our study suggests that fear screams may function to gather both conspecifics and other species around the caller, which may directly or indirectly disturb the predator, thus giving the caller a chance to escape. The benefits of screaming may be influenced by environmental (e.g., habitat type) and biological (e.g., body mass) factors, which may ultimately account for the variability in propensity for screaming within and between species.

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“…First, fear screams may warn kin and constitute an act of altruism (PERRONE 1980). Second, fear screams have been hypothesised to startle the predator into loosening its grip and hence allow escape (DRIVER & HUMPHRIES 1969), but screams continue rather than only occur at the start of a prey capture. Third, fear screams are calls for help, directed at kin or reciprocating individuals (ROHWER et al 1976).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear screams and adaptation to avoid imminent death: effects of genetic variation and predation

Møller

Nielsen²

2010

Ethology Ecology & Evolution

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Fear screams are calls emitted by prey just before or during capture by a predator, and the evolution of such calls has been attributed to the fitness benefits of escape from a predator due to interference by a secondary, kleptoparasitic predator or interference by conspecifics. If fear screams had beneficial effects on individuals carrying the same genes (in terms of learnt avoidance of a predator by related individuals, or predators avoiding future capture attempts of difficult prey), then fear screams should be more prevalent in species with little genetic variation and hence a high degree of shared alleles. In a comparative analysis of 71 species of birds, the proportion of individuals emitting fear screams in different species increased with the degree of genetic similarity among adults in local populations, as reflected by the band-sharing coefficient for neutral minisatellite markers. Furthermore, the proportion of individuals emitting fear screams in different species increased with the degree of preference by a common avian predator, the goshawk Accipiter gentilis, but not by the sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus, showing that individuals belonging to species that suffered disproportionately from predation were more likely to emit fear screams. Finally, the proportion of individuals emitting fear screams in different species increased with the proportion of individuals that were tail-less, thus having successfully escaped a predator. These results suggest that genetic variation has played a role in the evolution of fear screams, and that the frequency of fear screams is related to the risk of predation and the probability of successful escape.

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The Significance of the High‐intensity Alarm Call in Captured Passerines

Cited by 37 publications

References 0 publications

Asymmetries in the individual distinctiveness and maternal recognition of infant contact calls and distress screams in baboons

Asymmetries in the individual distinctiveness and maternal recognition of infant contact calls and distress screams in baboons

Habitats matter: the incidence of and response to fear screams in a habitat generalist, the vinous-throated parrotbill Paradoxornis webbianus

Fear screams and adaptation to avoid imminent death: effects of genetic variation and predation

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