Sibling Competition and Conspicuousness of Nestling Gapes in Altricial Birds: A Comparative Study
Juan J. Soler, Jesús M. Avilés · 2010
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Description
Juan Soler and Jesús Avilés compared nestling mouth displays across bird species in PLOS ONE in 2010. Baby birds that cannot leave the nest beg with wide, colorful gapes. The bright mouth tells parents about need, strength, or health. Parents use that signal to divide food among chicks. Siblings thus compete partly through display. The authors asked how gape showiness varies with competition across species.
Comparative studies test whether a trait evolves where it is needed most. If fiercer sibling rivalry matches brighter gapes, the signaling story gains support. Such work connects family conflict to evolution of animal signals. It also shows how much information a simple mouth can carry. Parents reading gapes are reading a health and hunger report.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Juan J. Soler, Jesús M. Avilés |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2010 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 47 KB |
| LICENSE | Creative Commons Attribution License |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | PLOS ONE |
Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010509