2001/05/07 by Ben J. Hatchwell, D. J. Ross, M. K. Fowlie +1 · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · Psychology · Mathematics · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Kin recognition #Kinship #Preference #Association (psychology) #Kin selection #Cooperative breeding #Inclusive fitness #Biology #Psychology #Social psychology #Communication #Evolutionary biology #Zoology #Statistics #Mathematics
paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1598
openalex publication_date 2001/05/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus are cooperative breeders in which helpers exhibit a kin preference in their cooperative behaviour. We investigated the mechanism through which this preference is achieved by first conducting an experiment for testing whether breeders could recognize the calls of their relatives while controlling for spatial effects. We found that there were significant differences in the responses of breeders to the vocalizations of kin and non-kin, suggesting that vocal cues may be used for kin recognition. We conducted a second experiment in order to investigate whether recognition is achieved on the basis of relatedness per se or through association. Nestlings were cross-fostered between unrelated broods in order to create broods composed of true and foster siblings. In subsequent years, survivors from experimental broods did not discriminate between true and fostered siblings when making helping decisions, indicating that recognition is learned and not genetically determined. We discuss the effectiveness of learning through association as an indirect cue to kinship.