TY - JOUR
T1 - Silent tidbitting in male fowl, Gallus gallus
T2 - A referential visual signal with multiple functions
AU - Smith, Carolynn L.
AU - Evans, Christopher S.
PY - 2009/3/15
Y1 - 2009/3/15
N2 - With the notable exception of bee dances, there are no established examples of multimodal referential signals. The food calls of male fowl, Gallus gallus, are functionally referential and the acoustic component of a multimodal display. However, the specificity of the receiver's response to the visual component (tidbitting) has never been tested. Here we provide the first detailed analysis of tidbitting, and test the hypothesis that these characteristic movements are functionally referential. We conducted a playback experiment with five high-definition video stimuli: Silent tidbit, Matched-frequency motion in the opposite direction, Silent crows, Inactive male and Empty cage. Females searched for food more during Silent tidbitting than under any other condition, suggesting that this visual display specifically predicts the presence of food and hence has similar functional properties to food calls. Silent tidbitting was also singularly effective at evoking approach and close inspection, which may enhance signal memorability. These social responses suggest that the visual component of the display has the unique function of triggering assessment of signaler identity and quality as a potential mate. The acoustic and visual components are hence redundant as a food signal, but synergistic when additional functions are considered. These findings emphasize the perceptual complexity of multimodal displays and provide the first demonstration of multimodal referential signaling in a vertebrate.
AB - With the notable exception of bee dances, there are no established examples of multimodal referential signals. The food calls of male fowl, Gallus gallus, are functionally referential and the acoustic component of a multimodal display. However, the specificity of the receiver's response to the visual component (tidbitting) has never been tested. Here we provide the first detailed analysis of tidbitting, and test the hypothesis that these characteristic movements are functionally referential. We conducted a playback experiment with five high-definition video stimuli: Silent tidbit, Matched-frequency motion in the opposite direction, Silent crows, Inactive male and Empty cage. Females searched for food more during Silent tidbitting than under any other condition, suggesting that this visual display specifically predicts the presence of food and hence has similar functional properties to food calls. Silent tidbitting was also singularly effective at evoking approach and close inspection, which may enhance signal memorability. These social responses suggest that the visual component of the display has the unique function of triggering assessment of signaler identity and quality as a potential mate. The acoustic and visual components are hence redundant as a food signal, but synergistic when additional functions are considered. These findings emphasize the perceptual complexity of multimodal displays and provide the first demonstration of multimodal referential signaling in a vertebrate.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=63049130698&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1242/jeb.023572
DO - 10.1242/jeb.023572
M3 - Article
C2 - 19252000
AN - SCOPUS:63049130698
SN - 0022-0949
VL - 212
SP - 835
EP - 842
JO - Journal of Experimental Biology
JF - Journal of Experimental Biology
IS - 6
ER -