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THE PECKING RESPONSE OF YOUNG WIDEAWAKE TERNS STERNA FUSCATA
Author(s) -
Cullen J. M.
Publication year - 1962
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1962.tb07243.x
Subject(s) - beak , pecking order , biology , peck (imperial) , herring gull , zoology , plumage , ecology , herring , fishery , larus , fish <actinopterygii> , agronomy
SUMMARY The pecking of young Wideawake Terns was tested towards beak models of different colours (red, black, grey, white and silver) and towards a stuffed adult head with the normal black beak of the species. Of the colours, red and black received most pecks and the other colours somewhat fewer. The strong response to black fits the idea that the chick's responsiveness is adapted to the parent's beak colour. It would not explain the equally strong preference for red which, it is suggested, is a relic of the days when ancestors of the Wideawake had red beaks. It is argued that in other species, such as the Herring Gull, the evolution of the adult's beak colour may well have been guided by a pre‐existing predisposition of the chicks to peck more at certain colours, in other words the beak is adapted to the chick's colour responsiveness. Since the beak is important in social situations other than feeding the young, its colour may be a compromise between different selective forces, and this may be one reason that beak colours most effective for feeding the young are not always achieved.