Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Dishonest ‘Preemptive’ Pursuit-Deterrent Signal? Why The Turquoise-Browed Motmot Wags Its Tail Before Feeding Nestlings, Troy G. Murphy
Dishonest ‘Preemptive’ Pursuit-Deterrent Signal? Why The Turquoise-Browed Motmot Wags Its Tail Before Feeding Nestlings, Troy G. Murphy
Troy G Murphy
Both sexes of the turquoise-browed motmot, Eumomota superciliosa, display their long-racketed tail in an exaggerated side-to-side wag display in two contexts. In the first, the wag display is performed in the presence of predators (predator-elicited wag display), and evidence supports the hypothesis that the signal functions as a pursuit-deterrent signal (Murphy 2006, Behavioral Ecology, 17, 547e553). In the second, the wag display is performed in the apparent absence of predators immediately before feeding nestlings (prefeeding wag display). I tested four hypotheses on the adaptive significance of the prefeeding wag display: (1) a dishonest, preemptive, pursuit-deterrent signal given in case predators …