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Structure And Possible Function Of Vocalizations Of Captive Red-Legged Seriemas (Cariama Cristata), Ami Elizabeth Padget

Masters Theses

Very little is known about red-legged seriema (Cariama cristata) vocalizations and behavior. The focus of my research was to analyze the structure of red-legged seriema primary calls and to begin to test hypotheses related to their function. Captive red-legged seriema behavior, both vocal and non-vocal, was recorded at 7 institutions located in the United States from May 2007 through November 2008. To test whether calls serve a predator alarm function, seriemas were presented with a large stuffed dog, representing a predator stimulus, and 2 control stimuli, a large, stuffed penguin and a large, flowering potted plant. Baseline recordings with no …