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Thursday 11 August 2016

Wild jackdaws, Corvus monedula, recognize individual humans and may respond to gaze direction with defensive behaviour

Animal Behaviour
Volume 108, October 2015, Pages 17–24

  • a Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
  • b Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, U.K.
Received 27 March 2015, Revised 2 June 2015, Accepted 2 July 2015, Available online 11 August 2015
MS. number: 15-00254

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.07.010
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Animal Behaviour
Volume 110, December 2015, Pages 19
Corrigendum

Corrigendum to Wild jackdaws, Corvus monedula, recognize individual humans and may respond to gaze direction with defensive behaviour. Animal Behaviour, 108, 17–24

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.005
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Refers To

Davidson, G. L., Clayton, N. S., & Thornton, A. (2015). Wild jackdaws, Corvus monedula, recognize individual humans and may respond to gaze direction with defensive behaviour. Animal Behaviour, 108, 17–24.
The abstract contains the following error. ‘Latency to return to the nestbox was significantly higher when the threatening mask rather than the neutral mask was worn’ should read ‘Latency to return to the nestbox was significantly lower when the threatening mask rather than the neutral mask was worn’.
Copyright © 2015 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Highlights

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We measured wild jackdaws' responses to humans that posed different levels of threat.
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Jackdaws recognized individual humans and adjusted defensive behaviours accordingly.
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Jackdaws tended to respond most strongly to direct rather than averted gaze.
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Jackdaws may integrate both human identity and gaze cues when guarding chicks.
Predator recognition is a prerequisite for antipredator behaviour. Although species level predator recognition is well documented, there is emerging evidence that some birds, including corvids, can differentiate between individual humans that pose different levels of threat. Other predator cues such as gaze direction may offer additional important information regarding the likelihood of an attack, but it is unknown whether wild animals can integrate information about the individual identity and gaze direction of a predator when perceiving threat levels. Here we measured wild jackdaws' responses to human head orientation, directed towards or away from their nestbox containing chicks. To test whether aversive responses to gaze direction were integrated with information about human identity, the human presenting gaze cues wore one of two masks: a ‘threatening’ mask that had previously been worn when handling the jackdaws' chicks and a ‘neutral mask’ that had previously been worn when walking by, but not disturbing the nest. Latency to return to the nestbox was significantly higher when the threatening mask rather than the neutral mask was worn, but it was not influenced by head direction. However, once a jackdaw landed outside the nestbox, there was a nonsignificant trend for it to be quicker to enter the box when the human was gazing towards, rather than away from the box. These results indicate that wild jackdaws can recognize different individual humans and thus differentiate between those wearing a threatening and a neutral mask, and respond defensively by guarding their chicks from potential threat. Jackdaws may integrate both predator identity and gaze cues; however, predation risk is primarily perceived through individual human recognition.

Keywords

  • Corvus monedula;
  • gaze sensitivity;
  • individual human recognition;
  • jackdaws;
  • learning;
  • predator recognition
Correspondence: G. Davidson, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, U.K.
Copyright © 2015 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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