Adult exploration predicts parental responsiveness to juvenile songs in zebra finch parent–juvenile interactions

Abstract

Recent research has established the importance of animal personality traits in behavioural ecology, encompassing domains such as mate choice, cognition and social interactions. However, less is known about how personality traits predict parental behaviour. In the current study, we investigate these relationships in the zebra finch, Taeniopygia gutatta, a species that provides biparental care and in which social feedback from parents shapes juvenile song learning. Adults were first assessed on exploratory tendency in a novel environment, then allowed to pair and rear cross-fostered young. Birds were housed in single-family cages within the colony, allowing for visual and auditory interaction between families. We examined foster parent–juvenile interactions over the course of song learning (35–65 days posthatch), recording parental responsiveness (responses contingent on juvenile songs) as these responses are known to influence song learning outcomes. Exploration scores predicted parental responsiveness in contrasting ways: low-exploring males provided more contingent responses to the immature song of juveniles, while high-exploring females increased their responsiveness to a greater degree over the course of juvenile song development. Over the period of offspring song development, females were more responsive to changes in juvenile vocal production, increasing the number of responses provided as juveniles increased their rate of singing. In contrast, males were less variable in their response rate across development; their contingent singing was not sensitive to changes in the rate of juvenile singing. The importance of exploration as a predictor of parental responsiveness to offspring behaviour demonstrates the possible significance of previous findings that adults pair based on the trait of exploration.