Visual marking in mammals first proved by manipulations of brown bear tree debarking

[EN] The rather limited human ability to understand animal vision and visual signalling has frequently clouded our expectations concerning the visual abilities of other animals. But there are multiple reasons to suspect that visual signalling is more widely employed by animals than previously though...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Penteriani Dragone, Vincenzo, González Bernardo, Enrique, Hartasánchez, Alfonso, Ruiz Villar, Héctor, Morales González, Ana, Ordiz Fernández, Andrés Avelino, Bombieri, Giulia, Díaz García, Juan, Cañedo, David, Bettega, Chiara, Delgado Sánchez, María del Mar
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de León
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/23251
Acceso en línea:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-88472-5
https://hdl.handle.net/10612/23251
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Zoología
Animal visual abilities
Mammal communication
Visual signalling
Brown bear
Mating
2401.02 Comportamiento Animal
2401.03 Comunicación Animal
2401.06 Ecología Animal
2401.18 Mamíferos
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] The rather limited human ability to understand animal vision and visual signalling has frequently clouded our expectations concerning the visual abilities of other animals. But there are multiple reasons to suspect that visual signalling is more widely employed by animals than previously thought. Because visibility of visual marks depends on the background in which they are seen, species spending most of their time living in dark conditions (e.g., in forests and/or having crepuscular and nocturnal habits) may rely on bright signals to enhance visual display. Here, as a result of experimental manipulations, we present, for the first time ever, evidence supporting the use of a new channel of intraspecific communication by a mammal species, i.e., brown bear Ursus arctos adult males relying on visual marks during mating. Bear reactions to our manipulation suggest that visual signalling could represent a widely overlooked mechanism in mammal communication, which may be more broadly employed than was previously thought