Abstract
Parrots in captivity are known for their ability to vocally imitate humans and recently it has been shown that wild-living orange-fronted conures are able to immediately imitate other individuals’ contact calls. The function of this exceptional ability to imitate remains unclear. However, orange–fronted conures live in fission-fusion flocks where they encounter many different individuals every day, and it is possible that their vocal imitation ability is a flexible means to address a specific individual within a flock. We tested this via playback to short-term captive wild conures. Test birds were placed together in pairs in outdoor aviaries to form simple flocks. To simulate imitation of a specific individual these pairs received playback of contact calls that primarily imitate one of the two birds. Overall, individuals that received simulated vocal imitations of its calls responded more frequently and faster than the other individual. This suggests that orange-fronted conures can use imitations of contact calls to address specific individuals of a flock. In the discussion we argue that the fission-fusion flock dynamics of many parrot species has been an important factor in evolving conures’ and other parrots’ exceptional ability to imitate.
Highlights
Animals often communicate in network environments, in which multiple unintended receivers may be present [1]
Addressing by vocal matching can be accomplished in two different ways: (1) by using a vocalisation type that resembles the one used by the addressee and which is already part of the repertoire of the addressor, or (2) through vocal imitation in which the addressor alters its vocalization type to resemble the variant of the addressee
When multiple orange-fronted conures were simultaneously exposed to the same contact call stimulus, the individual whose call had the highest similarity to the playback call responded the strongest
Summary
Animals often communicate in network environments, in which multiple unintended receivers may be present [1]. The ability to direct signals to specific individuals (addressing) can provide an advantage by affecting only the behavior of the intended receiver and not the whole network. Several territorial species perform vocal matching using song types from their repertoires, e.g. great tits (Parus major) [4,5], western medowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) [6] and song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) [7]. In these species, song type matching by a simulated intruder elicits strong responses from territory owners and indicates that matching addresses the matched individual [7,8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
