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The difference between night and day: antipredator behavior in birds

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Abstract

Animals have evolved sophisticated strategies for avoiding predators during the day. These strategies can vary depending on the type of predator and level of threat. Although nocturnal predation is a major cause of animal mortality, antipredator behavior at night is poorly understood. To investigate how diurnal animals adjust their antipredator behavior during these different conditions, peahens (Pavo cristatus) were exposed to a taxidermy raccoon during the daytime and nighttime. During the day, the peahens emitted loud antipredator calls, extended their necks upward, adopted a preflight posture, and approached the predator; at night, the peahens emitted soft hissing calls, remained stationary, piloerected their feathers, and raised their tails. The results demonstrate that birds adopt radically different antipredator behavior depending on whether the threat occurs in the daytime or nighttime. These different tactics could result from limitations in sensory abilities. Videos showing nocturnal and diurnal antipredator behavior of peafowl are available online (http://www.momo-p.com/showdetail-e.php?movieid=momo111110pc01a and http://www.momo-p.com/showdetail-e.php?movieid=momo111110pc02a).

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Acknowledgments

We thank Peggy Bianco and Kevin Gilliam for allowing us to study their free-ranging peafowl. Nathan Hart provided helpful advice about peafowl vision. Peter and Martha Klopfer kindly allowed us to house the birds on their farm. Rhonda and Walter Yorzinski assisted in building enclosures for the birds. Tim Caro, Ann Hedrick, Peter Klopfer, Gail Patricelli, and Bill Poulos provided helpful comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by an NSF graduate research fellowship, an Animal Behaviour Society Student Research Grant, the Animal Behavior Graduate Group at UC Davis, the Chapman Memorial Fund, Gail Patricelli (through UC Davis), a Grant-In-Aid of Research from the National Academy of Sciences (administered by Sigma-Xi, The Scientific Research Society), a Philanthropic Educational Organization Scholar Award, and a National Geographic Society/Waitt Foundation grant to JLY. This project was approved by Duke University Animal Care and Use Committee (A205).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Behavior Graduate Group and Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Jessica L. Yorzinski

  2. Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Jessica L. Yorzinski & Michael L. Platt

  3. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Michael L. Platt

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  1. Jessica L. Yorzinski
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  2. Michael L. Platt
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Correspondence to Jessica L. Yorzinski.

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Yorzinski, J.L., Platt, M.L. The difference between night and day: antipredator behavior in birds. J Ethol 30, 211–218 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-011-0318-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-011-0318-5

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