Who do you trust? Wild birds use social knowledge to avoid being deceived.

Filipe C R Cunha,Michael Griesser

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aba2862

Filipe C R Cunha, Michael Griesser

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba2862

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Abstract

Many species give deceptive warning calls, enabled by the high risk of ignoring them. In Siberian jays, a territorial, group-living bird, individuals give warning calls toward perched predators and mob them. However, intruding neighbors can emit these warning calls in the absence of predators to access food, but breeders often ignore these calls. Playback field experiments show that breeders flee sooner and return later after warning calls of former group members than those of neighbors or unknown individuals. Thus, breeders respond appropriately only to warning calls of previous cooperation partners. This mechanism facilitates the evolution and maintenance of communication vulnerable to deceptive signaling. This conclusion also applies to human language because of its cooperative nature and thus, its vulnerability to deception.

Highlights

Many communication systems are vulnerable to deception, where signals are used to convey false information
We provided pig fat on a feeding apparatus and focused on breeders foraging in the absence of other group members
Our results demonstrate that Siberian jays respond differently to playbacks of warning calls depending on the social relationship to the caller

Summary

Introduction

Many communication systems are vulnerable to deception, where signals are used to convey false information. Deception frequently involves predator warning calls [1,2,3,4], made possible by the high cost of ignoring these calls [1]. Deceptive calls are emitted out of context, for example, a warning call is emitted in the absence of a predator, allowing callers to gain access to resources, food [1, 4]. Receivers pay a cost when responding to deceptive calls. In communication systems where deception is potentially persistent and deceptive calls are used frequently, call recipients can learn to recognize deceptive calls. Establishing caller reliability through one’s own experience can be costly, and receivers could rely on social information to infer caller reliability

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