INVESTIGADORES
GARCIA german oscar
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Object exploration in seabirds: Olrog's gull (Larus atlanticus) as case of study
Autor/es:
CASTANO MELINA; BIONDI LAURA MARINA; FAVERO MARCO; GARCÍA GERMÁN OSCAR
Reunión:
Conferencia; 3rd World Seabird Conference; 2021
Resumen:
Exploratory behavior represents an important way through which individuals collect information about the environment and learn its properties. Individuals may vary in the way they respond to novel stimuli, which may be due to the attributes of these stimuli. The complexity of shapes and colors are important characteristics that can influence the exploratory behavior. Here, we analyzed the exploratory behavior in the Olrog?s Gull Larus atlanticus, by examining how sex and object complexity influence object exploration. Nine adult birds (5 females, 4 males) were caught during the non-breading season in an urban area of the northern coast of Argentina. Birds were identified with leg bands and housed in outdoor aviaries. Each bird was presented with six different geometrical objects in a 15-min trial. Three simple objects had two-dimension geometric shapes without any irregularities. Three complex objects were a combination of two three-dimensional geometric elements with concavities and protruding elements. All objects were of plastic material of three different colors. All individuals approached the objects to less than 10 cm; six of them also contacted at least one object. There were no differences between sexes in the latency to approach the objects, latency at first contact and the total time of exploration (z=0.99, P=0.35; z=0.125, P=0.9; z=0.91, P=0.38; respectively). Twenty-four contact events with the objects were registered, from which 91.7% were made on complex objects, mainly the yellow and red objects. Regarding simple objects, only the yellow one was explored. This is the first study evaluating the explorative behavior of a South American Gull. We suggest that the preference of exploring the complex over the simple objects may indicate that this behavior was guided mainly by the need to extract information about the objects, and not by the potential risk associated to complexity. This first attempt to study the exploratory behavior of the Olrog?s gull is important to understand its response to the new stimuli faced in its environment.