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Oxpeckers Help Rhinos Evade Humans.
Plotz, Roan D; Linklater, Wayne L.
Afiliación
  • Plotz RD; Applied Ecology and Environmental Change Research Group, Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, 3011, Australia; Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, 6021, New Zealand; Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, 6001, South Africa. Electronic address: roan.plotz@vu.edu.au.
  • Linklater WL; Department of Environmental Studies, California State University-Sacramento, Sacramento, CA 95819, USA; Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, 6001, South Africa. Electronic address: wayne.linklater@csus.edu.
Curr Biol ; 30(10): 1965-1969.e2, 2020 05 18.
Article en En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32275876
Evolutionary theory expects social, communicative species to eavesdrop most on other species' alarm calls [e.g., 1, 2] but also that solitary-living species benefit most from eavesdropping [3, 4]. Examples of solitary species responding to the alarm calls of other species, however, are limited and unconvincing [3-5]. The Swahili name for the red-billed oxpecker (Buphagus erythrorynchus) is Askari wa kifaru, the rhinos' guard [6]. Black rhino (Diceros bicornis) are a solitary-living, non-vocal species and are critically endangered through hunting. We searched Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa, for rhinoceros for 27 months with and without the aid of radio telemetry and conducted 86 experimental, unconcealed approaches to 11 rhino, without or with varying numbers of resident oxpecker. Oxpeckers enabled rhinos to evade detection by us in 40% to 50% of encounters. Alarm-calling by oxpeckers significantly improved the rate and distance that rhinos detected our approach from 23% to 100% and 27 ± 6 m to 61 ± 4 m, respectively. Every additional oxpecker improved detection distance by 9 m. Rhinos alerted by oxpeckers' alarm calls never re-oriented in our direction but moved to face downwind. Thus, oxpeckers' calls communicate only threat proximity, not direction, and rhinos assume the hunter is stalking from downwind. We confirm that oxpeckers guard rhinos and the importance of depredation, not sociality, in the evolution of eavesdropping [4, 7]. Conservationists should consider reintroducing oxpeckers to rhino populations, reinstating their anti-human sentinel [8]. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
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Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Perisodáctilos / Comunicación Animal / Estorninos Límite: Animals / Humans Idioma: En Revista: Curr Biol Asunto de la revista: BIOLOGIA Año: 2020 Tipo del documento: Article Pais de publicación: Reino Unido

Texto completo: 1 Colección: 01-internacional Base de datos: MEDLINE Asunto principal: Perisodáctilos / Comunicación Animal / Estorninos Límite: Animals / Humans Idioma: En Revista: Curr Biol Asunto de la revista: BIOLOGIA Año: 2020 Tipo del documento: Article Pais de publicación: Reino Unido