Testosterone amplifies the negative valence of an agonistic gestural display by exploiting receiver perceptual bias.
Proc Biol Sci
; 288(1963): 20211848, 2021 11 24.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34784769
ABSTRACT
Many animals communicate by performing elaborate displays that are incredibly extravagant and wildly bizarre. So, how do these displays evolve? One idea is that innate sensory biases arbitrarily favour the emergence of certain display traits over others, leading to the design of an unusual display. Here, we study how physiological factors associated with signal production influence this process, a topic that has received almost no attention. We focus on a tropical frog, whose males compete for access to females by performing an elaborate waving display. Our results show that sex hormones like testosterone regulate specific display gestures that exploit a highly conserved perceptual system, evolved originally to detect 'dangerous' stimuli in the environment. Accordingly, testosterone makes certain gestures likely to appear more perilous to rivals during combat. This suggests that hormone action can interact with effects of sensory bias to create an evolutionary optimum that guides how display exaggeration unfolds.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Testosterona
/
Gestos
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article