Abstract
Many animals maintain long-term monogamous partnerships, but the extent to which partners associate varies substantially and has implications for the scope of cooperation between pair members. Zebra finches (Taeniopygia castanosis) are monogamously paired for life and maintain continuous partnerships, raising questions as to if and how they maintain pair cohesion despite being non-territorial and having only short-range acoustic signals. While zebra finches are the best-studied songbird in captivity, their social and spatial behaviour in the wild is poorly understood. Determining pair cohesion in songbirds to date has almost exclusively been studied at specific locations where pairs would be expected to meet, such as nesting or feeding sites, without quantifying broader movements. Here, we used solar-powered automated tracking to simultaneously monitor the movements of radio-tagged zebra finch pairs during periods of breeding activity. We reveal extremely high spatial cohesion with pairs using nearly identical home ranges and maintaining close spatial proximity across large areas. This characterization of extremely high spatio-temporal coordination of zebra finch pairs provides important insights into the operation and benefits of monogamous relationships in highly mobile taxa, such as birds.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 20240519 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-7 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Biology Letters |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 11 |
Early online date | 13 Nov 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2024. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- automated radio tracking
- coordination
- monogamy
- pair bond