How king penguins advertise their sexual maturity

• Published in: Animal Behaviour
• Main Authors: Kriesell, Hannah Joy, Aubin, Thierry, Planas-Bielsa, Víctor, Schull, Quentin, Bonadonna, Francesco, Cornec, Clément, Le Maho, Yvon, Troudet, Laura, Le Bohec, Céline
• Other Authors: Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI), Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM), MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (UMR MARBEC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro, Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), RiverLy - Fonctionnement des hydrosystèmes (RiverLy), Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Institut Polaire Francais Paul Emile Victor : 137 354, Centre Scientifique de Monaco : LIA-647, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique through the Programme Zone Atelier de Recherches sur l'Environnement Antarctique et Subantarctique (ZATA), RTPI-NUTRESS (CSM/CNRS-UNI-STRA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: animal communication; mate choice; optimal response index; ornamentation; penguin; sexual maturation; vocalization; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; King Penguins
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03409936; https://hal.science/hal-03409936/document; https://hal.science/hal-03409936/file/2021_Kriesell_AnimBehav.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.05.015

International audience Reproductive success can improve with experience, which increases with age in many long-lived species. Signals that provide reliable information about age are therefore of importance for mate choice and consequently are under sexual selection. In birds, these are often vocal signals as well as visual signals in the form of plumage coloration. King penguins, Aptenodytes patagonicus, are sexually monomorphically ornamented seabirds that perform a complex visual and acoustic courtship display. Coloured beak spots and ear patches contain information about the condition and physiological status of adult males and females, but their role as a signal of age has previously only been studied in young birds. Vocalizations have mainly been studied as signals of individuality and not in the context of courtship. We investigated two multicomponent signals in the context of mate choice by analysing beak spot, ear patch and call parameters of wild king penguins. We explored the relation between these signals and age as well as age classes (chicks, juveniles, adults). Ornament parameters were weakly correlated with in males, but not in females, while acoustic parameters were highly correlated with age in both sexes. The calls' fundamental frequency and energy parameters and all the beak spot parameters reliably classified individuals into their age class. Since age class was redundantly encoded in both acoustic and colour parameters, we hypothesize that calls and ornaments function as back-up signals that increase the chance of accurately conveying the age class of the sender to receivers. King penguins might sequentially analyse age class signals during courtship, where acoustic signals serve as long-range communication when sender and receiver are out of sight, and ornamentation signals become important at close range. We show the importance of considering bimodal, multicomponent signals when studying complex behaviour and discuss how signalling environment, the species' life history and mating system ...