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Related Experiment Videos

Snake-like calls in breeding tits.

Anders Pape Møller1,2, Diego Gil3, Wei Liang4

  • 1Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay Cedex, F-91405, France.

Current Zoology
|October 7, 2021
PubMed
Summary

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Hole-nesting tits produce snake-like hisses to deter predators. Squirrels avoided nest boxes emitting these hiss calls, suggesting evolved mimicry for nest defense.

Area of Science:

  • Animal behavior
  • Bioacoustics
  • Evolutionary biology

Background:

  • Hole-nesting birds, like tits (family Paridae), exhibit defensive behaviors when threatened.
  • A hissing display, mimicking snake exhalations, is observed in tits facing nest predators.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the acoustic similarity between tit hiss calls and snake hisses.
  • To determine if tit hiss calls elicit an aversive response in a natural predator.
  • To explore the evolutionary convergence of defensive vocalizations.

Main Methods:

  • Acoustic analysis compared tit hisses (6 species), snake hisses (3 families), tit alarm calls, and white noise.
  • Predatory squirrels (Swinhoe's striped squirrels) were trained to approach feeders near nest boxes.
Keywords:
frequency-dependent selectionhiss callmimicrysquirrelstits

Related Experiment Videos

  • Squirrels' feeding behavior was observed in response to playback of tit hisses versus white noise.

    • Main Results:

    • Tit hiss calls exhibited high acoustic similarity to snake hisses.
    • Squirrels demonstrated significantly greater avoidance of feeders when exposed to tit hiss calls compared to white noise.
    • Tit hisses showed lower similarity to their own alarm syllables, indicating spectral convergence.

    Conclusions:

    • Hole-nesting birds have evolved hiss calls that convergently resemble snake vocalizations.
    • These snake-like hiss calls function as an effective anti-predator defense, deterring predators from nest sites.
    • The study provides evidence for mimicry in avian defensive strategies and predator response to acoustic cues.