A Japanese bird ‘gestures’ to communicate with its partner

2024-03-27 23:26:18

According to a study by the University of Tokyo, a species of small bird, the japanese tit Parus minoruses wing movements as a gesture to convey the message “after you.”

One will flap his wings towards the other

When a pair of this species arrives at its nest with food, it will wait perched outside. Then one will often flap its wings at the other, apparently signaling it to enter first. The researchers say this discovery challenges the previous belief that gestural communication is prominent only in humans and great apes, significantly advancing our understanding of visual communication in birds.

A thumbs up, a farewell gesture, or pointing to a book on a shelf. These Gestures and many more are an integral part of how we communicate. These gestures were once thought to be used exclusively by humans, until more detailed observations of great apes, such as chimpanzees and bonobos, revealed that they also move their bodies to communicate non-verbally.

Gestures were once thought to be used exclusively by humans, until more detailed observations of great apes, such as chimpanzees and bonobos, revealed that they also move their bodies to communicate non-verbally.

In more recent years, studies on other animals, such as crows and fish, have shown that they also use some simple gestures to, for example, point out objects or show something of interestwhat is called deictic gesture. However, symbolic gestures, such as showing an open hand to indicate “after you”, require complex cognitive skillsand there was no conclusive evidence supporting the existence of such abilities in animals other than humans.

Parus minor

The use of symbolic gestures by a small wild bird

Researchers at the University of Tokyo were therefore surprised to find clear evidence of the use of symbolic gestures by a small wild bird, the Japanese tit. “In our latest discovery, we revealed that the Japanese tit uses gestures to communicate with its partner,” Associate Professor Toshitaka Suzuki of the University of Tokyo said in a statement. Study published in the scientific journal Current Biology (1).

They not only use specific calls to convey particular meanings, but also combine different calls into sentences using syntactic rules.

“For more than 17 years I have been dedicated to the study of these fascinating birds. They not only use specific calls to convey particular meanings, but also combine different calls into sentences using syntactic rules. “These various vocalizations led me to begin this research into their potential use of physical gestures.”

In spring, Japanese tits form mating pairs and build their nest inside a tree cavity with a small entrance. Suzuki and his co-researcher Norimasa Sugita, also from the University of Tokyo, observed the behavior of 16 parents (eight pairs) breeding in nest boxes. When feeding their chicks, the birds enter the nest one by one.

The researchers noticed that when carrying food back to the nest, the birds would often first perch nearby and then flap their wings toward each other. By analyzing more than 320 nest visits in detail, the researchers saw that the flapping of the wings encouraged the pair that was flapped to enter the nest box first, while the flapping one entered second, determining the order of entry to the nest and reflecting the “after you” gesture observed in human communication.

They flap their wings exclusively in the presence of their partner

The gesture was performed more frequently by females, after which the male normally entered the nest, regardless of which one had arrived first. If the female did not flap her wings, she usually entered the nest before the male.

“We were surprised to find that the results were much clearer than we expected. We observed that Japanese tits flap their wings exclusively in the presence of their partner, and when witnessing this behavior, the partner almost always enters the nest first,” Suzuki explained. The gesture was performed more frequently by females, after which the male normally entered the nest, regardless of which one had arrived first. If the female did not flap her wings, she usually entered the nest before the male.

The researchers believe that this behavior meets the criteria to be classified as a symbolic gesture because it only occurred in the presence of a pair, stopped after the pair entered the nest, and encouraged the pair to enter the nest box without any physical contact. They also noticed that the “after you” flapping gesture was directed at the pair and not the nest, meaning it was not being used as a deictic gesture to indicate the position of something of interest.

References

• (1) The ‘after you’ gesture in a bird. Current Biology.