Passerine mimics often imitate various vocalizations from other bird species and incorporate these sounds into their song repertoires.While a few anecdotes reported that wild songbirds imitated human-associated sounds...Passerine mimics often imitate various vocalizations from other bird species and incorporate these sounds into their song repertoires.While a few anecdotes reported that wild songbirds imitated human-associated sounds,besides captive parrots and songbirds,systemic and quantitative studies on human-made sound mimicry in wild birds remain scarce.In this study,we investigated the mimetic accuracy and consistency of electric moped sounds imitated by an urban bird,the Chinese Blackbird(Turdus mandarinus).We found that:(1)Only one type of electric moped sound was imitated,i.e.,13 of 26 males mimicked the first part of the antitheft alarm,a phrase containing a series of identical notes.(2)The mimicry produced by male Chinese Blackbirds had fewer notes and lower consistency within phrases compared to the model alarms.(3)The mimicry of male Chinese Blackbirds was imperfect,i.e.,most of the acoustic parameters differed from the model alarms.Additionally,mimetic notes were lower in frequency than the models.Mimetic notes from two areas were also different in acoustic structures,suggesting Chinese Blackbirds might learn mimicry mainly from conspecific neighbors within each area respectively rather than electric mopeds,namely the secondary mimicry.Imperfect mimicry of human-made sounds could result from cost and physical constraints,associated with high consistency,frequency,and repetitions.Consequently,Chinese Blackbirds copied a simplified version of electric moped alarms.We recommend further attention to mimic species inhabiting urban ecosystems to better understand vocal mimicry's adaptation to ongoing urbanization.展开更多
Group living is widespread across diverse taxa,and the mechanisms underlying collective decision-making in contexts of variable role division are critical for understanding the dynamics of group stability.While studie...Group living is widespread across diverse taxa,and the mechanisms underlying collective decision-making in contexts of variable role division are critical for understanding the dynamics of group stability.While studies on collective behavior in small animals such as fish and insects are well-established,similar research on large wild animals remains challenging due to the limited availability of sufficient and systematic field data.Here,we aimed to explore the collective decision-making pattern and its sexual difference for the dimorphic Tibetan antelopes Pantholops hodgsonii(chiru)in Xizang Autonomous Region,China,by analyzing individual leadership distribution,as well as the joining process,considering factors such as calving stages and joining ranks.The distinct correlations of decision participants’ratio with group size and decision duration underscore the trade-off between accuracy and speed in decision-making.Male antelopes display a more democratic decision-making pattern,while females exhibit more prompt responses after calving at an early stage.This study uncovers a partially shared decision-making strategy among Tibetan antelopes,suggesting flexible self-organization in group decision processes aligned with animal life cycle progression.展开更多
Recognition of heterospecific mobbing calls can occur through both innate and learned mechanisms,with the former often explained by two main hypotheses:the acoustic similarity hypothesis,which emphasizes shared acoust...Recognition of heterospecific mobbing calls can occur through both innate and learned mechanisms,with the former often explained by two main hypotheses:the acoustic similarity hypothesis,which emphasizes shared acoustic features,and the phylogenetic conservatism hypothesis,which posits that closely related species may share innate decoding templates.However,it remains unclear whether phylogenetic relatedness alone can drive the recognition of unfamiliar mobbing calls,a question with important implications for understanding the evolution of interspecific communication and anti-predator strategies.We examined the recognition of unfamiliar mobbing calls in Masked Laughingthrushes(Pterorhinus perspicillatus) using playback experiments with three allopatric species' mobbing calls of Leiothrichidae family.Results revealed two key findings:(1) Masked Laughingthrushes exhibited mobbing responses to unfamiliar mobbing calls,though at significantly lower intensity compared to conspecific playbacks.(2) Phylogenetic relatedness significantly predicted mobbing intensity,independent of overall acoustic similarity.These findings improve our understanding of how birds like Masked Laughingthrush instinctively recognize mobbing calls from other species.We show phylogenetic relatedness rather than overall acoustic similarity may be a key to this innate ability.Species that share a common ancestor may possess similar built-in neural systems for decoding alarm signals.We suggest that future research needs to combine neurobiological techniques to determine how inherited biases and feature decoding system together guide variable bird communities to perceive heterospecific mobbing calls.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFC3202104)the Western LightKey Laboratory Cooperative Research Cross-Team Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences(xbzg-zdsys-202207)。
文摘Passerine mimics often imitate various vocalizations from other bird species and incorporate these sounds into their song repertoires.While a few anecdotes reported that wild songbirds imitated human-associated sounds,besides captive parrots and songbirds,systemic and quantitative studies on human-made sound mimicry in wild birds remain scarce.In this study,we investigated the mimetic accuracy and consistency of electric moped sounds imitated by an urban bird,the Chinese Blackbird(Turdus mandarinus).We found that:(1)Only one type of electric moped sound was imitated,i.e.,13 of 26 males mimicked the first part of the antitheft alarm,a phrase containing a series of identical notes.(2)The mimicry produced by male Chinese Blackbirds had fewer notes and lower consistency within phrases compared to the model alarms.(3)The mimicry of male Chinese Blackbirds was imperfect,i.e.,most of the acoustic parameters differed from the model alarms.Additionally,mimetic notes were lower in frequency than the models.Mimetic notes from two areas were also different in acoustic structures,suggesting Chinese Blackbirds might learn mimicry mainly from conspecific neighbors within each area respectively rather than electric mopeds,namely the secondary mimicry.Imperfect mimicry of human-made sounds could result from cost and physical constraints,associated with high consistency,frequency,and repetitions.Consequently,Chinese Blackbirds copied a simplified version of electric moped alarms.We recommend further attention to mimic species inhabiting urban ecosystems to better understand vocal mimicry's adaptation to ongoing urbanization.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant no.32101237)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Grant no.2021M691522)+1 种基金the National Key Research and Development Program(Grant no.2022YFC3202104)the Tibet Major Science and Technology Project(Grant no.XZ201901-GA-06).
文摘Group living is widespread across diverse taxa,and the mechanisms underlying collective decision-making in contexts of variable role division are critical for understanding the dynamics of group stability.While studies on collective behavior in small animals such as fish and insects are well-established,similar research on large wild animals remains challenging due to the limited availability of sufficient and systematic field data.Here,we aimed to explore the collective decision-making pattern and its sexual difference for the dimorphic Tibetan antelopes Pantholops hodgsonii(chiru)in Xizang Autonomous Region,China,by analyzing individual leadership distribution,as well as the joining process,considering factors such as calving stages and joining ranks.The distinct correlations of decision participants’ratio with group size and decision duration underscore the trade-off between accuracy and speed in decision-making.Male antelopes display a more democratic decision-making pattern,while females exhibit more prompt responses after calving at an early stage.This study uncovers a partially shared decision-making strategy among Tibetan antelopes,suggesting flexible self-organization in group decision processes aligned with animal life cycle progression.
文摘Recognition of heterospecific mobbing calls can occur through both innate and learned mechanisms,with the former often explained by two main hypotheses:the acoustic similarity hypothesis,which emphasizes shared acoustic features,and the phylogenetic conservatism hypothesis,which posits that closely related species may share innate decoding templates.However,it remains unclear whether phylogenetic relatedness alone can drive the recognition of unfamiliar mobbing calls,a question with important implications for understanding the evolution of interspecific communication and anti-predator strategies.We examined the recognition of unfamiliar mobbing calls in Masked Laughingthrushes(Pterorhinus perspicillatus) using playback experiments with three allopatric species' mobbing calls of Leiothrichidae family.Results revealed two key findings:(1) Masked Laughingthrushes exhibited mobbing responses to unfamiliar mobbing calls,though at significantly lower intensity compared to conspecific playbacks.(2) Phylogenetic relatedness significantly predicted mobbing intensity,independent of overall acoustic similarity.These findings improve our understanding of how birds like Masked Laughingthrush instinctively recognize mobbing calls from other species.We show phylogenetic relatedness rather than overall acoustic similarity may be a key to this innate ability.Species that share a common ancestor may possess similar built-in neural systems for decoding alarm signals.We suggest that future research needs to combine neurobiological techniques to determine how inherited biases and feature decoding system together guide variable bird communities to perceive heterospecific mobbing calls.
