Strategic use of allopreening in family-living wrens

Abstract

A prominent interaction in the lives of social mammals is allogrooming. Individuals allogroom strategically and preferentially, grooming high-quality individuals that control access to resources. This results in distinct patterns of allogrooming within social groups, such that some individuals are groomed more than the others, some dyads express symmetry in allogrooming, and others exchange allogrooming for other benefits. Allopreening, the avian equivalent of allogrooming, occurs commonly in group-living birds, providing the opportunity to test whether social birds also use allopreening strategically in their social relationships. I examined this hypothesis in family-living buff-breasted wrens (Cantorchilus leucotis) by examining allopreening initiation, reciprocation and rate during interactions involving breeding adults and offspring. Buffbreasted wrens exhibit a nuclear family structure in which pairs display long-term partnerships, and juveniles delay dispersing from natal territories for about 10 months. Allopreening was symmetrical between breeding partners: males and females who initiated and reciprocated allopreening of partners with similar frequency, and within reciprocated bouts, allopreening was time-matched. Pairs in which allopreening was not observed were more likely to divorce, but allopreening patterns did not change in successive years of partnerships. Parentoffspring allopreening, by contrast, was asymmetrical in pattern; parents initiated allopreening more than their offspring, and reciprocation never occurred. The different patterns of allopreening observed within buff-breasted wren families suggest the strategic use of allopreening, possibly for the maintenance of long-term partnerships and in exchange for social benefits from offspring.

Social Grooming in Bats: Are Vampire Bats Exceptional?

“…Individuals can spend up to 20% of their time grooming others [ 38 ], and the behavior provides proximate physiological rewards for both givers and receiver [ 39 – 41 ]. Although most of what is known about social grooming comes from studies of primates, evidence for a role of social grooming in maintaining social ties is emerging from several other mammals (marsupials [ 42 ], deer [ 43 ], cows [ 44 ], horses [ 45 ], voles [ 46 ], mice [ 47 ], meerkats [ 48 , 49 ], coati [ 50 , 51 ], lions [ 52 ]) and group-living birds [ 53 , 54 ].…”

Reciprocal allogrooming among unrelated Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) is affected by previously received cooperative, affiliative and aggressive behaviours

“…Reciprocal cooperation among bonded individuals has been observed also in primates and birds (Schino and Aureli 2008;St-Pierre et al 2009). In turn, high levels of cooperation among social partners may reinforce their social bond (Gill 2012). Several studies, however, did not find that individuals with a higher relationship quality show higher initial investments in cooperation (Barrett et al 2000;Fruteau et al 2011;Kaburu and Newton-Fisher 2016;Newton-Fisher and Kaburu 2017).…”

An apparent case of interspecific allopreening by a Royal Spoonbill Platalea regia

“…The altruistic behaviour, allopreening is widespread amongst birds, especially in aggregating species (Waltman and Beissinger 1992;Radford and Du Plessis 2006;Cox 2012;Gill 2012). One obvious benefit is the removal of ectoparasites and maintenance of plumage condition, although close proximity may also aid the transmission of parasites (Frigerio et al 2016).…”