Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge)
Common murres (Uria aalge) at the Gannet Islands, Labrador, were found to assist in the rearing of chicks which were not their own. This alloparental behaviour was most common among birds which had failed in their breeding attempt and mainly comprised brooding of well-grown chicks aged 18–22 days. A...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Zoology |
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Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
1984
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z84-307 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z84-307 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z84-307 2024-06-23T07:52:11+00:00 Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge) Birkhead, T. R. Nettleship, D. N. 1984 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z84-307 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z84-307 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 62, issue 11, page 2121-2124 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 1984 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z84-307 2024-06-13T04:10:48Z Common murres (Uria aalge) at the Gannet Islands, Labrador, were found to assist in the rearing of chicks which were not their own. This alloparental behaviour was most common among birds which had failed in their breeding attempt and mainly comprised brooding of well-grown chicks aged 18–22 days. Alloparental care occurred both when the chick's parents were present and absent from the colony. It is unusual for common murre chicks to be left unattended and occurs only when food availability is low: alloparents may increase the chances of survival of unattended chicks. There are several possible explanations for alloparental care in common murres, but at the present time we have insufficient information to enable us to distinguish between them. However, the most parsimonious explanation is that chicks take advantage of a nonadaptive residual hormone titre in failed breeders. Article in Journal/Newspaper Common Murre Uria aalge uria Canadian Science Publishing Gannet Islands ENVELOPE(-56.536,-56.536,53.941,53.941) Canadian Journal of Zoology 62 11 2121 2124 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Common murres (Uria aalge) at the Gannet Islands, Labrador, were found to assist in the rearing of chicks which were not their own. This alloparental behaviour was most common among birds which had failed in their breeding attempt and mainly comprised brooding of well-grown chicks aged 18–22 days. Alloparental care occurred both when the chick's parents were present and absent from the colony. It is unusual for common murre chicks to be left unattended and occurs only when food availability is low: alloparents may increase the chances of survival of unattended chicks. There are several possible explanations for alloparental care in common murres, but at the present time we have insufficient information to enable us to distinguish between them. However, the most parsimonious explanation is that chicks take advantage of a nonadaptive residual hormone titre in failed breeders. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Birkhead, T. R. Nettleship, D. N. |
spellingShingle |
Birkhead, T. R. Nettleship, D. N. Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge) |
author_facet |
Birkhead, T. R. Nettleship, D. N. |
author_sort |
Birkhead, T. R. |
title |
Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge) |
title_short |
Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge) |
title_full |
Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge) |
title_fullStr |
Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Alloparental care in the common murre ( Uria aalge) |
title_sort |
alloparental care in the common murre ( uria aalge) |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1984 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z84-307 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z84-307 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-56.536,-56.536,53.941,53.941) |
geographic |
Gannet Islands |
geographic_facet |
Gannet Islands |
genre |
Common Murre Uria aalge uria |
genre_facet |
Common Murre Uria aalge uria |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 62, issue 11, page 2121-2124 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z84-307 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
62 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2121 |
op_container_end_page |
2124 |
_version_ |
1802643429762531328 |