Neighbour-stranger discrimination in an African wood dove inhabiting equatorial rainforest.

ABSTRACT: We investigated within- and between-individual song variation and song-based neighbour-stranger discrimination in a non-learning bird species, the blue-headed wood-dove (Turtur brehmeri), which inhabits lowland rainforests of West and Central Africa. We found that songs of this species are individually specific and have a high potential for use in individual recognition based on the time-frequency pattern of note distribution within song phrases. To test whether these differences affect behaviour, we conducted playback experiments with 19 territorial males. Each male was tested twice, once with the songs of a familiar neighbour and once with the songs of an unfamiliar stranger. We observed that males responded more aggressively to playback of a stranger's songs: they quickly approached clo

SUBMITTER: Niskiewicz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10879109 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature