Abstract
Allogrooming in primates serves not only a hygienic function, but also plays a crucial role in maintaining strong affiliative bonds between group members, which in turn, underpin the emergence of cooperative behavior. In contrast, although allopreening occurs in many avian species, we know little about its social functions. Our study addresses this issue by investigating allopreening in a broad comparative data set including six corvid and nine parrot species. We assessed whether rates of allopreening initiations, proportion of time spent allopreening, and the number of grooming partners in captive group-housed birds were comparable to patterns observed in captive chimpanzees and bonobos. While parrots and corvids were found to have similar rates of social grooming to bonobos and chimpanzees, Pan species dedicated significantly more time to social grooming. Animals in larger groups had more grooming partners, but when controlling for the number of potential partners, birds tended to have fewer grooming interaction partners than Pan species. We then investigated whether allopreening in parrots and corvids was predicted by behavioral markers of affiliative social bonds (close physical proximity, active feeding, and low levels of agonistic behavior). Results revealed that providing allopreening to a partner was significantly predicted by often being in close proximity, but not engagement in active feeding or agonistic behavior. We examined the region allopreened in a subset of species and found that preening a partner's head was predicted by both close physical proximity and active feeding, while body allopreening was only predicted by close physical proximity. Head preening may confer more hygienic benefits to recipients, and thus, may be more selectively provided to valued partners. Results support the hypothesis that allopreening in corvids and parrots helps maintain social bonds with an individual's most important social partners, showing some similarities to allogrooming in primates.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 207-228 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Ethology |
| Volume | 126 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2020 |
Funding
At Lincolnshire Wildlife Park, we thank Steve Nichols and staff for their support. For the research conducted at La Foa, Province Sud, New Caledonia, we thank Province Sud for granting us permission to work in New Caledonia and Dean M. and Boris C. for allowing us access to their properties for catching and releasing the crows. For the research conducted at the Columbus Zoo, we thank Audra Meinelt and the keeper staff. At North Carolina Zoo, we thank Corinne Kendall, Richard Bergl, Jennifer Ireland, as well as keeper staff, Steve Ross, and The Chimpanzee Species Survival Plan. For research conducted at Vallee des Singes Primate Park and Leipzig zoo, we thank keeper staff, La Conservatoire pour la Protection des Primates, and Matthew Henderson for help with data collection. At Edinburgh Zoo, we thank Emma Wallace, Stuart Watson, and Ruth Sonnweber for data collection, the keepers of Budongo Trail and Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for permission to collect data. At Loro Parque (Max‐Planck‐Comparative Cognition Research Station, Animal Embassy), we cordially thank Wolfgang and Christoph Kiessling and the Loro Parque Fundación for their support of our research, as well as Dr. Anastasia Krasheninnikova for coordinating data collection, and Nina Buffenoir, Claudia Zeiträg, and other laboratory members for data collection. At University of Vienna, we thank the staff and students at Haidlhof Research Station. We are grateful to Stuart Watson for statistical advice. Megan L. Lambert was funded by an Overseas Research Scholarship from the University of York. Alex H. Taylor and Martina Schiestl's research was supported by a Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellowship. Nathan Emery was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, as well as the University of Cambridge and Queen Mary University of London. None of the authors have any conflicting interests to report.
Keywords
- affiliative relationships
- allogrooming
- allopreening
- corvids
- parrots
- primates
- social bonds