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Chicken food calls are functionally referential.

Evans1, Evans

  • 1Animal Behaviour Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University

Animal Behaviour
|November 30, 1999
PubMed
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Male chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) use specific food calls to signal edible discoveries. Hens specifically orient towards food sources when hearing these calls, confirming their role in conveying food presence information.

Area of Science:

  • Ethology
  • Animal Communication
  • Bioacoustics

Background:

  • Male chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) produce 'food' calls when finding food, modulated by social context, particularly the presence of hens.
  • The function of these calls is debated: either to signal food availability or to convey social information like reduced aggression.
  • Understanding the precise information encoded in these vocalizations is key to deciphering their evolutionary role.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the specific information conveyed by chicken food calls.
  • To differentiate between food-related and social information transmission in vocal signals.
  • To determine if hens interpret food calls as indicators of food presence.

Main Methods:

  • Two playback experiments were conducted using isolated hens.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Hens were exposed to recorded food calls, ground alarm calls, and contact calls.
  • Behavioral responses, including visual fixation and social interactions, were recorded and analyzed.

    • Main Results:

    • Hens specifically fixated downwards in response to food call playbacks, an anticipatory feeding movement.
    • This downward fixation was unique to food calls, not observed with alarm or contact calls.
    • No significant differences were found in social behaviors or non-specific responses across call types.

    Conclusions:

    • Chicken food calls demonstrably provide information about the presence of food to conspecifics.
    • This finding supports the role of food calls in signaling foraging opportunities.
    • The study provides novel evidence for the direct transmission of food presence information via acoustic signals in a natural system.