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"Begging"
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Calling in the face of danger: Do nestling Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) suppress begging in response to predator playbacks?
Nest predation is the most frequent cause of nest failure in birds such as the Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) that nest on or near the substrate. Nestlings should therefore exhibit adaptations to reduce the risk of nest predation. We tested the nestling antipredator hypothesis by examining the begging responses of Red-winged Blackbird nestlings to vocalizations of (1) an important nest predator (American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos), (2) a predator that rarely preys on nestlings (Cooper's Hawk, Accipiter cooperii), and (3) a nonpredator (Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus). We performed playbacks with (1) both parents present at the nest, (2) male at the nest, and (3) neither parent present. Following playback, we measured duration of nestling begging after the parent departed (begging persistence), bouts of otherwise normal begging when no parent was present (parent-absent begging), and calling without postural components of begging (nonpostural begging). When the male or both parents were present during playback, adults responded with alarm calls and nestlings significantly reduced parent-absent begging following American Crow and Cooper's Hawk playbacks. Nonpostural begging was significantly reduced following Cooper's Hawk playback, but there were no significant differences in the other begging variables. When neither parent was present, we found no significant differences in nonpostural begging in response to the 3 playback types, but parent-absent begging was significantly reduced following American Crow and Cooper's Hawk playbacks when compared to Northern Flicker playbacks. These results show that nestlings suppress their vocal begging in response to calls of predators including Cooper's Hawks even though they are not common nest predators.
Journal Article
The Begging Question
Begging, thought to be an inherently un-Swedish phenomenon, became
a national fixture in the 2010s as homeless Romanian and Bulgarian
Roma EU citizens arrived in Sweden seeking economic opportunity.
People without shelter were forced to use public spaces as their
private space, disturbing aesthetic and normative orders, creating
anxiety among Swedish subjects and resulting in hate crimes and
everyday racism. Parallel with Europe's refugee crisis in the
2010s, the \"begging question\" peaked. The presence of the media's
so-called EU migrants caused a crisis in Swedish society along
political, juridical, moral, and social lines due to the
contradiction embodied in the Swedish authorities' denial of social
support to them while simultaneously seeking to maintain the
nation's image as promoting welfare, equality, and antiracism. In
The Begging Question Erik Hansson argues that the material
configurations of capitalism and class society are not only
racialized but also unconsciously invested with collective
anxieties and desires. By focusing on Swedish society's response to
the begging question, Hansson provides insight into the dialectics
of racism. He shrewdly deploys Marxian economics and Lacanian
psychoanalysis to explain how it became possible to do what once
was thought impossible: criminalize begging and make fascism
politically mainstream, in Sweden. What Hansson reveals is not just
an insight into one of the most captivating countries on earth but
also a timely glimpse into what it means to be human.
eBook
Begging is an honest signal of hunger in a communally nesting bird with low genetic relatedness
Kin selection theory predicts that conflict over resource allocation will intensify as relatedness between dependent young and adult caregivers decreases. As inclusive fitness constraints on dishonest signalling relax, begging behaviour is less likely to be a reliable indicator of hunger or condition. Therefore, dishonest signalling is expected to be especially prevalent in communally breeding species, for which offspring survival often depends on care from both related and unrelated adults. We evaluated the scope for conflict and its consequences for dishonest signalling in the greater ani (Crotophaga major), a communally nesting cuckoo in which multiple unrelated pairs lay in the same nest. Using video recordings of nearly 2500 feeding events across 10 nests, we demonstrate that begging behaviour is a reliable signal of hunger, with hungrier nestlings begging more intensely. We also show that begging may communicate reliable information about condition in the long term, with smaller nestlings begging more intensely than their larger broodmates. Ultimately, larger nestlings and those who begged more intensely were more likely to receive food, indicating that both begging signals and scramble competition influence resource allocation. Together, our results indicate that honest begging signals can persist even when caregivers and young are unrelated.Significance statementOffspring solicit food from their adult caregivers through a variety of begging behaviours. These behaviours can convey important information about offspring hunger and/or long-term condition, but may be exaggerated, if offspring attempt to gain more than their proportionate share of resources. We examined whether offspring exaggerate their begging behaviour, such that it is not a reliable indicator of their hunger or condition, in the greater ani. Greater anis breed communally, with multiple pairs sharing a single nest simultaneously such that nestlings are fed by both their parents and unrelated adult caregivers. Theory predicts that begging should be less reliable if offspring and caregivers are unrelated, but we found that greater ani begging behaviour reliably communicated hunger, and potentially long-term condition, to adults. This study is the first to evaluate begging signal reliability in a communally breeding species.
Journal Article
The Begging Strategy of Andean Dogs: An Exploratory Study
In this study, we report a particular begging strategy by Andean dogs and by humans on the unsurfaced road between the villages of Parotani and Cahiuasi in Bolivia. The positions of the dogs and humans begging and their behavioral displays were recorded. In dogs, the distance from each other was also recorded. Begging locations, for both dogs and humans, were permuted with a score, according to the higher probability of receiving food. The highest scores were assigned to the positions where cars had to slow down and the subjects were well visible, thus meriting a score corresponding to the higher probability of receiving a treat. The occurrences of the correct positioning at the external and internal parts of the bend were compared by a chi-square test. On a range of 93.3 km, the dogs were observed to always lie down at the border of the road, mainly alone (96.3%) and on hairpin bends, present due to the steep slope, obliging the vehicles to slow down. Humans were observed mainly in groups. The percentage of dogs lying on the external part of the bends was 81.2%, which was above the level of chance (p < 0.01). Humans were observed at external bends in 63.6% of cases, which was at chance level. Begging locations, for both dogs and humans, were permuted with a score according to the higher probability of receiving food. The mean scores were 1.48 and 0.65 for dogs and humans, respectively, and the difference was highly significant (p < 0.001).
Journal Article
Immune challenge reduces begging effort and modifies begging call structure in spotless starling nestlings
Symptoms of illness offer insights into an organism’s condition, altering social signals that affect others’ behavior. Nestling birds employ begging signals to solicit parental care, but the extent to which begging reflects nestling health beyond hunger remains controversial. We investigated how experimentally induced changes in health affect begging signals in spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) nestlings. To alter health status, we challenged nestlings by injecting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -an antigen that elicits an immune response- or a control substance (PBS) and observed begging behavior under controlled food deprivation conditions. LPS-treated nestlings exhibited delayed gaping, reduced stretching, and less begging time compared to control nestlings. Moreover, LPS-treated nestlings produced calls with higher spectral entropy, particularly when deprived of food for longer. Our findings indicate that begging signals are sensitive to induced sickness. However, addressing mechanistic issues is crucial for effectively testing whether begging reflects nestling condition as a signal of quality in future experimental setups.Significance statementThis study demonstrates that begging signals of nestling birds reflect their health status beyond mere hunger, addressing a longstanding debate in behavioral ecology. By experimentally inducing sickness in spotless starling nestlings, we reveal that changes in health affect postural and acoustic begging behavior. However, ascertaining the implications of this finding for current begging theory proves challenging without information about the causal mechanisms underlying sickness behavior. Understanding how nestlings communicate their condition to parents through begging signals holds implications for comprehending parental care dynamics and lays the groundwork for future research in parent-offspring communication.
Journal Article
Sibling conflict and dishonest signaling in birds
Offspring survival can often depend on successful communication with parents about their state of need. Theory suggests that offspring will be less likely to honestly signal their need when they experience greater competition from either a greater number of nestmates or less-related nestmates. We found support for this hypothesis with a comparative analysis, examining data from across 60 species of birds. We found that offspring are less honest about their level of need when (i) they face competition from current siblings; (ii) their parents are likely to breed again, and so they are in competition with future siblings; and (iii) parental divorce or death means that they are likely to be less related to future siblings. More generally, these patterns highlight the sensitivity of communication systems to conflict between signaler and receiver while also suggesting that when there is little conflict, natural selection favors the honest.
Journal Article
Supernormal Stimulus Begging Calls of Brood‐Parasitic Nestlings Depress the Parental Care in an Uncommon Host
During the nestling period, brood‐parasitic birds stimulate host parents to provide food through complex visual and auditory signals, including emitting supernormal stimuli in the form of begging calls to increase the feeding frequency. However, whether the begging calls of brood‐parasitic nestlings act as a universal type of supernormal stimulus signal and their effects on less common host species still require further research. In this study, we used playback recordings to verify the impact of the begging calls of Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) nestlings on the parental care behavior of host Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) parents. Contrary to our expectations, the results showed that male Barn Swallow parents decreased their feeding frequency in response to both types of Common Cuckoo nestling calls (cuckoo nestlings reared by the Oriental Reed Warbler Acrocephalus orientalis/the Barn Swallow), while females decreased their feeding frequency in response to the begging calls of Common Cuckoo nestlings reared by the common host (the Oriental Reed Warbler). Additionally, brood size, temperature, and weather all affected the feeding frequency in the Barn Swallow. This study supports the idea that the supernormal stimulus of brood‐parasitic nestling begging calls does not always work as a universal signal; the behavioral adaptations formed by parasitic birds in response to common hosts may lead to reduced fitness when utilizing uncommon hosts, for example, the Barn Swallow. The exaggerated begging calls of brood‐parasitic nestlings, for example, the Common Cuckoo, could serve as a supernormal stimulus to the host parents, but their effectiveness in uncommon host species remains unclear. In this study, we tested the effect of cuckoo nesting begging calls on an uncommon host species, the Barn Swallow, with manipulative playback experiments. Contrary to our expectations, we found that male Barn Swallows significantly reduced their feeding frequency in response to cuckoo nestling calls, suggesting that this signal inhibited parental investment in a less common host species.
Journal Article