Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests.
International audience Specialized signals emitted by competing males often convey honest information about fighting ability. It is generally believed that receivers use these signals to directly assess their opponents. Here, we demonstrate an alternative communication strategy used by males in a br...
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-01240310 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150228 |
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ftunivlyon:oai:HAL:hal-01240310v1 2024-09-09T19:38:58+00:00 Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. Casey, Caroline Charrier, Isabelle Mathevon, Nicolas Reichmuth, Colleen University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) University of California (UC) Sensory Neuro-Ethology (ENES) Centre de recherche en neurosciences de Lyon - Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL) Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Institute of Marine Sciences University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) 2015-07-31 https://hal.science/hal-01240310 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150228 en eng HAL CCSD The Royal Society info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1098/rsos.150228 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/26361553 hal-01240310 https://hal.science/hal-01240310 doi:10.1098/rsos.150228 PUBMED: 26361553 PUBMEDCENTRAL: PMC4555858 ISSN: 2054-5703 Royal Society Open Science https://hal.science/hal-01240310 Royal Society Open Science, 2015, 2 (8), pp.150228. ⟨10.1098/rsos.150228⟩ [SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2015 ftunivlyon https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150228 2024-07-08T23:59:57Z International audience Specialized signals emitted by competing males often convey honest information about fighting ability. It is generally believed that receivers use these signals to directly assess their opponents. Here, we demonstrate an alternative communication strategy used by males in a breeding system where the costs of conflict are extreme. We evaluated the acoustic displays of breeding male northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), and found that social knowledge gained through prior experience with signallers was sufficient to maintain structured dominance relationships. Using sound analysis and playback experiments with both natural and modified signals, we determined that males do not rely on encoded information about size or dominance status, but rather learn to recognize individual acoustic signatures produced by their rivals. Further, we show that behavioural responses to competitors' calls are modulated by relative position in the hierarchy: the highest ranking (alpha) males defend their harems from all opponents, whereas mid-ranking (beta) males respond differentially to familiar challengers based on the outcome of previous competitive interactions. Our findings demonstrate that social knowledge of rivals alone can regulate dominance relationships among competing males within large, spatially dynamic social groups, and illustrate the importance of combining descriptive and experimental methods when deciphering the biological relevance of animal signals. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seals Université de Lyon: HAL Royal Society Open Science 2 8 150228 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Lyon: HAL |
op_collection_id |
ftunivlyon |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences |
spellingShingle |
[SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences Casey, Caroline Charrier, Isabelle Mathevon, Nicolas Reichmuth, Colleen Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. |
topic_facet |
[SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences |
description |
International audience Specialized signals emitted by competing males often convey honest information about fighting ability. It is generally believed that receivers use these signals to directly assess their opponents. Here, we demonstrate an alternative communication strategy used by males in a breeding system where the costs of conflict are extreme. We evaluated the acoustic displays of breeding male northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), and found that social knowledge gained through prior experience with signallers was sufficient to maintain structured dominance relationships. Using sound analysis and playback experiments with both natural and modified signals, we determined that males do not rely on encoded information about size or dominance status, but rather learn to recognize individual acoustic signatures produced by their rivals. Further, we show that behavioural responses to competitors' calls are modulated by relative position in the hierarchy: the highest ranking (alpha) males defend their harems from all opponents, whereas mid-ranking (beta) males respond differentially to familiar challengers based on the outcome of previous competitive interactions. Our findings demonstrate that social knowledge of rivals alone can regulate dominance relationships among competing males within large, spatially dynamic social groups, and illustrate the importance of combining descriptive and experimental methods when deciphering the biological relevance of animal signals. |
author2 |
University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) University of California (UC) Sensory Neuro-Ethology (ENES) Centre de recherche en neurosciences de Lyon - Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL) Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Institute of Marine Sciences University of California (UC)-University of California (UC) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Casey, Caroline Charrier, Isabelle Mathevon, Nicolas Reichmuth, Colleen |
author_facet |
Casey, Caroline Charrier, Isabelle Mathevon, Nicolas Reichmuth, Colleen |
author_sort |
Casey, Caroline |
title |
Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. |
title_short |
Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. |
title_full |
Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. |
title_fullStr |
Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. |
title_sort |
rival assessment among northern elephant seals: evidence of associative learning during male-male contests. |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-01240310 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150228 |
genre |
Elephant Seals |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals |
op_source |
ISSN: 2054-5703 Royal Society Open Science https://hal.science/hal-01240310 Royal Society Open Science, 2015, 2 (8), pp.150228. ⟨10.1098/rsos.150228⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1098/rsos.150228 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/26361553 hal-01240310 https://hal.science/hal-01240310 doi:10.1098/rsos.150228 PUBMED: 26361553 PUBMEDCENTRAL: PMC4555858 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150228 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
150228 |
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1809908138692837376 |