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Ravens notice dominance reversals among conspecifics within and outside their social group - PubMed

  • ️Wed Jan 01 2014

Ravens notice dominance reversals among conspecifics within and outside their social group

Jorg J M Massen et al. Nat Commun. 2014.

Free PMC article

Abstract

A core feature of social intelligence is the understanding of third-party relations, which has been experimentally demonstrated in primates. Whether other social animals also have this capacity, and whether they can use this capacity flexibly to, for example, also assess the relations of neighbouring conspecifics, remains unknown. Here we show that ravens react differently to playbacks of dominance interactions that either confirm or violate the current rank hierarchy of members in their own social group and of ravens in a neighbouring group. Therefore, ravens understand third-party relations and may deduce those not only via physical interactions but also by observation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Self-directed and ‘stress’ behaviour in response to in-group stimuli.

Mean±s.e.m. difference between playback and baseline (delta: Δ) of (a) self-directed behaviour and (b) ‘Stress’ behaviour, for playbacks simulating expected (purple bars) and unexpected (orange bars) dominance interactions of in-group individuals. For clarity, we added 2 to these means. n=16, GLMM: *P<0.05, #0.05<P<0.10.

Figure 2
Figure 2. Sex differences in self-directed behaviour in response to in-group stimuli.

Mean±s.e.m. difference between playback and baseline (Δ) self-directed behaviour of males (n=7) and females (n=9), for playbacks simulating expected (purple bars) and unexpected (orange bars) dominance interactions of in-group individuals. For clarity, we added 2 to these means. GLMM and post hoc Wilcoxon-signed ranks tests: *P<0.05.

Figure 3
Figure 3. Activity in response to in-group stimuli of the same or of the other sex.

Mean±s.e.m. difference between playback and baseline (Δ) of activity, for playbacks simulating expected (purple bars) and unexpected (orange bars) dominance interactions of in-group individuals of the same sex and of individuals of the different sex. For clarity, we added 2 to these means. n=16, GLMM and post hoc Wilcoxon-signed ranks tests: *P<0.05; **P<0.01.

Figure 4
Figure 4. Vocalizations and close interest behaviour of males and females in response to out-group stimuli.

Mean±s.e.m. difference between playback and baseline (Δ) of (a) vocalizations and (b) close interest behaviour of males (n=7) and females (n=9), for playbacks simulating expected (purple bars) and unexpected (orange bars) dominance interactions of in-group individuals. For clarity, we added 2 to these means. GLMM and post hoc Wilcoxon-signed ranks tests: *P<0.05, #0.05<P<0.10.

Figure 5
Figure 5. Schematic representation of the set-up of the aviaries.

Aviaries A (18 × 10 × 5 m3), B (15 × 15 × 5 m3) and C (8 × 10 × 5 m3), housing group 1 (orange) and group 2 (yellow) during the different phases (a–c) of the experiment. The black dot represents an example of an animal in a test, the sound logo the place of the speaker from which the playback was played and the camera logo the respective place of the cameras that filmed this bird.

Figure 6
Figure 6. Example waveform of a playback stimulus.

Playback stimulus simulating an interaction between a dominant bird giving a bout of three SADs (individual I) followed by a bout of submissive vocalizations from a subordinate bird (individual II) and followed again by one SAD from the dominant.

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