Waltzing Taeniopygia: integration of courtship song and dance in the domesticated Australian zebra finch
Section snippets
Subjects
A total of 20 captive-bred male zebra finches (9–45 months old) participated in three variations of the experimental set-up, seven in 2010 (experiment A), four in 2011 (B) and 10 in 2013 (C). One male was tested twice (2010, 2011) and his data were averaged. Before experiment A male birds were housed in groups of seven males for several months. Birds were transferred from large aviaries into smaller group cages 1 week before experiments B and C. Experiment B was performed in May outdoors, and
Results
Courtship song and dance was elicited by allowing visual and acoustic but no physical contact between a female and the focal male. The behaviour of the male was audio and video recorded for 5 min. For the video analysis we divided beak wipe (BW) and turn-around movements (TA) into a preparation phase, stroke and poststroke phase (Fig. A1). Hop movements were scored as point events (Fig. A1). To investigate whether hops, BW and TA were coordinated with song, we quantified occurrences and timing
Discussion
Here we comprehensively show for the first time multiple ways in which the expression of dance is strongly, but not obligatorily, associated with the expression of song in zebra finches. Stereotypic movements, that is, BW, TA and hops, occurred significantly more during song than during silence. All three movements clustered at the start and end of motifs and hops coincided with notes, particularly the introductory but also the first and last motif notes. BW were performed faster during song
Acknowledgments
We thank F. Nottebohm, H. Hultsch and H. Williams and two anonymous referees for critical comments on the manuscript. We are indebted to M. Weiss for statistical support. For assistance with the video recordings, we thank M. Kloß and M. Gessinger. Also thanks to excellent bird care by Janett Birkenfeld. We acknowledge the support of a consortium grant of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; ‘Varying Tunes’, 01 GQ 0963) as well as a grant from SFB 665: Developmental
References (63)
- et al.
Correlations between catecholamine levels and sexual behavior in male zebra finches
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
(1992) - et al.
Female mate choice based upon male motor performance
Animal Behaviour
(2010) - et al.
Sexual selection and condition-dependent mate preferences
Current Biology: CB
(2006) - et al.
Dance choreography is coordinated with song repertoire in a complex avian display
Current Biology
(2013) - et al.
For whom the bird sings: context-dependent gene expression
Neuron
(1998) - et al.
Early experience affects producer–scrounger foraging tendencies in the house sparrow
Animal Behaviour
(2008) - et al.
Multimodal signalling in a songbird: male audiovisual displays vary significantly by social context in brown-headed cowbirds
Animal Behaviour
(2010) - et al.
Dopaminergic modulation of reproductive behavior and activity in male zebra finches
Behavioural Brain Research
(2008) Song and female mate choice in zebra finches: a review
Advances in the Study of Behavior
(2009)- et al.
Hormones and the neuromuscular control of courtship in the golden-collared manakin (Manacus vitellinus)
Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology
(2013)