Sunday, January 29, 2023
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Biology

Woodpecker drumming signals wimp or warrior

March 7, 2016
in Biology
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
IMAGE

Credit: WFU/Ken Bennett

Animal behavior researchers at Wake Forest University have found that the highly territorial downy woodpecker interprets drumming intensity from adversaries to figure out who is or isn't a threat.

Instead of a distinctive song, woodpeckers bang on trees with their bills to create a sound called drumming. The birds use it to communicate when they want to attract a mate or defend a territory. Wake Forest assistant professor of biology Matthew Fuxjager and his research team, which consists of graduate student Eric Schupee and several undergraduates, tested how woodpecker pairs perceived the drumming to see how it influenced territorial interaction and coordination of defensive behavior.

"Partners will actually coordinate or cooperate with how they fight depending on who they are fighting. They size up their opponent and decide whether they need to work together," Fuxjager said. "In short, it means an intruder woodpecker with a short drum is perceived as wimpier, while a long drum signifies a tough guy intruder."

The team conducted behavioral experiments by recording drumming sounds from males and then playing them back, manipulating them to territory holders, to see what kind of behavioral response that would elicit, said Fuxjager, who studies physiological and behavioral mechanisms of social biology, particularly in bird species. The research was conducted in the woods on the Wake Forest campus and in the surrounding Winston-Salem community.

What they found is that if you present a breeding pair of woodpeckers with a longer drum from a more aggressive intruder, the pair begins to coordinate their territorial defense behavior and coordinate how they attack the intruder; whereas, a shorter drum from a weaker intruder meant that the resident pair didn't bother to coordinate a response.

Overall, Fuxjager said these findings, recently published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, provide insight into aggressive behavior in birds in general and how individuals coordinate behavior to accomplish shared goals or tasks.

"When you walk through the woods and you hear a woodpecker, most people think they are looking for food, but that's actually a social signal they use."

###

Media Contact

Bonnie Davis
[email protected]
336-758-5390
@WakeForest

http://www.wfu.edu

Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Logo

    New study shows snacking on mixed tree nuts may impact cardiovascular risk factors and increase serotonin

    92 shares
    Share 37 Tweet 23
  • Null results research now published by major behavioral medicine journal

    533 shares
    Share 213 Tweet 133
  • Researchers achieve the first observation of de Broglie-Mackinnon wave packets by exploiting loophole in 1980’s-era laser physics theorem

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • The next generation of global health innovators: Michelson Prize winners announced

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Simulations reproduce complex fluctuations in soft X-ray signal detected by satellites

    64 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • New study debunks the assumption that menstrual cycles disqualify women from exercise research

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

New study shows snacking on mixed tree nuts may impact cardiovascular risk factors and increase serotonin

Hydrogen peroxide from tea and coffee residue: New pathway to sustainability

Null results research now published by major behavioral medicine journal

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 205 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In