A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species
Patterns of collective escape of a bird flock from a predator are fascinating, but difficult to study under natural conditions because neither prey nor predator is under experimental control. We resolved this problem by using an artificial predator (RobotFalcon) resembling a peregrine falcon in morp...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 2024-06-02T08:12:53+00:00 A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species Storms, Rolf F. Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert Hulst, Ronja Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K. Dutch Research Council 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/-/media/journals/author/Licence-to-Publish-20062019-final.pdf https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Journal of The Royal Society Interface volume 21, issue 214 ISSN 1742-5662 journal-article 2024 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 2024-05-07T14:16:55Z Patterns of collective escape of a bird flock from a predator are fascinating, but difficult to study under natural conditions because neither prey nor predator is under experimental control. We resolved this problem by using an artificial predator (RobotFalcon) resembling a peregrine falcon in morphology and behaviour. We imitated hunts by chasing flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings with the RobotFalcon, and compared their patterns of collective escape to those when chased by a conventional drone and, in case of starlings, hunted by wild peregrine falcons. Active pursuit of flocks, rather than only flying nearby by either the RobotFalcon or the drone, made flocks collectively escape more often. The RobotFalcon elicited patterns of collective escape in flocks of all species more often than the drone. Attack altitude did not affect the frequency of collective escape. Starlings escaped collectively equally often when chased by the RobotFalcon or a wild peregrine falcon. Flocks of all species reacted most often by collective turns, second most often by compacting and third by splitting into subflocks. This study demonstrates the potential of an artificial aerial predator for studying the collective escape behaviour of free-living birds, opening exciting avenues in the empirical study of prey–predator interactions. Article in Journal/Newspaper peregrine falcon The Royal Society Journal of The Royal Society Interface 21 214 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Patterns of collective escape of a bird flock from a predator are fascinating, but difficult to study under natural conditions because neither prey nor predator is under experimental control. We resolved this problem by using an artificial predator (RobotFalcon) resembling a peregrine falcon in morphology and behaviour. We imitated hunts by chasing flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings with the RobotFalcon, and compared their patterns of collective escape to those when chased by a conventional drone and, in case of starlings, hunted by wild peregrine falcons. Active pursuit of flocks, rather than only flying nearby by either the RobotFalcon or the drone, made flocks collectively escape more often. The RobotFalcon elicited patterns of collective escape in flocks of all species more often than the drone. Attack altitude did not affect the frequency of collective escape. Starlings escaped collectively equally often when chased by the RobotFalcon or a wild peregrine falcon. Flocks of all species reacted most often by collective turns, second most often by compacting and third by splitting into subflocks. This study demonstrates the potential of an artificial aerial predator for studying the collective escape behaviour of free-living birds, opening exciting avenues in the empirical study of prey–predator interactions. |
author2 |
Dutch Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Storms, Rolf F. Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert Hulst, Ronja Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K. |
spellingShingle |
Storms, Rolf F. Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert Hulst, Ronja Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K. A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species |
author_facet |
Storms, Rolf F. Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert Hulst, Ronja Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K. |
author_sort |
Storms, Rolf F. |
title |
A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species |
title_short |
A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species |
title_full |
A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species |
title_fullStr |
A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species |
title_full_unstemmed |
A robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species |
title_sort |
robotic falcon induces similar collective escape responses in different bird species |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 |
genre |
peregrine falcon |
genre_facet |
peregrine falcon |
op_source |
Journal of The Royal Society Interface volume 21, issue 214 ISSN 1742-5662 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/-/media/journals/author/Licence-to-Publish-20062019-final.pdf https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0737 |
container_title |
Journal of The Royal Society Interface |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
214 |
_version_ |
1800759459553738752 |