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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on July 31, 2006
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arl028
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received December 15, 2005
Revised April 18, 2006
Accepted July 3, 2006

Article

Do the multiple defense chemicals of visually distinct species enhance predator learning?

John Skelhorn 1 * and Candy Rowe 1

1 School of Biology, Department of Psychology, Henry Wellcome Building for Neuroecology, University of Newcastle, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
John Skelhorn, E-mail: john.skelhorn{at}ncl.ac.uk


  Abstract

Müllerian mimicry, where 2 unpalatable species share a warning pattern, is classically believed to be a form of mutualism, where the species involved share the cost of predator education. Birds learn to avoid a color signal faster when individual prey possesses 1 of 2 bitter-tasting chemicals rather than all having the same chemical, suggesting that Müllerian mimics that possess different defense chemicals are better protected than those that possess the same defense chemical. Using domestic chicks as predators and flavored, colored crumbs for prey, we investigated whether birds learn to avoid 2 visually distinct crumb types faster when each crumb type possesses a different defense chemical than when both crumb types share the same defense chemical. We found that birds learned to avoid 2 visually distinct color signals at a similar rate, irrespective of whether each color signal represented a different defense chemical or whether both color signals represented the same defense chemical. This experiment, therefore, indicates that in terms of predator avoidance learning, possessing 2 defense chemicals is more advantageous when prey look the same than when they look different. This suggests that Müllerian mimics with different defense chemicals not only are better protected than Müllerian mimics that share a single chemical but also benefit more from their mimetic resemblance.

Keywords: domestic chick; Müllerian mimicry; novelty; perception; taste.
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C. G. Halpin, J. Skelhorn, and C. Rowe
Being conspicuous and defended: selective benefits for the individual
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2008; 19(5): 1012 - 1017.
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