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The ultimate function of animals inhabiting and defending a territory is to increase the individual fitness or inclusive fitness of the animals expressing the behaviour. Fitness in this biological sense relates to the ability of an animal to survive and raise young. The proximate functions of territory defense vary.
Bird song is an example of learned territorial defense. Studies show that birds with high-quality songs will use them as a stimulus to deter predators from their territorial range. [ 13 ] Higher quality songs have been proven to act as the best defense mechanism in a variety of bird species, such as the red-winged blackbird ( Agelaius ...
A male yellow headed blackbird surveys his territory. Resource defense polygyny is a common strategy in insects. For examples, damselflies in the family Calopterygidae typically display resource defense polygyny, in which territorial males guard riverine habitat that is sought after by females for egg deposition.
Visual communication is a common dominance signal among animals. They are an effective modality as they come at a low cost to the animal and minimize risk. The Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum) for example, express bright orange splotches during territorial conflict to warn competitors that they are poisonous, and thus assert their dominance over a territory.
The ultimate function of the dear enemy effect is to increase the individual fitness of the animal expressing the behaviour. This increase in fitness is achieved by reducing the time, energy or risk of injury unnecessarily incurred by defending a territory or its resources (e.g. mate, food, space) against a familiar animal with its own territory; the territory-holder already knows about the ...
Agonistic behaviour is a result of evolution, [5] and this can be studied in a number of species facing different environmental pressures. Though agonistic behaviours can be directly observed and studied in a laboratory setting, it is also important to understand these behaviours in a natural setting to fully comprehend how they have evolved and therefore differ under different selective ...
Group of muskoxen in defensive formation, horns ready, and highly alert. In communal defence, prey groups actively defend themselves by grouping together, and sometimes by attacking or mobbing a predator, rather than allowing themselves to be passive victims of predation. Mobbing is the harassing of a predator by many prey animals. Mobbing is ...
Primate sociality. Group of bonobos relaxing and grooming.. Primate sociality is an area of primatology that aims to study the interactions between three main elements of a primate social network: the social organisation, the social structure and the mating system.