Why preen others? Predictors of allopreening in parrots and corvids and comparisons to grooming in great apes

TY - JOUR

T1 - Why preen others? Predictors of allopreening in parrots and corvids and comparisons to grooming in great apes

AU - Morales Picard, Alejandra

AU - Mundry, Roger

AU - Auersperg, Alice M.

AU - Boeving, Emily R.

AU - Boucherie, Palmyre H.

AU - Bugnyar, Thomas

AU - Dufour, Valérie

AU - Emery, Nathan J.

AU - Federspiel, Ira G.

AU - Gajdon, Gyula K.

AU - Guéry, Jean Pascal

AU - Hegedič, Matjaž

AU - Horn, Lisa

AU - Kavanagh, Eithne

AU - Lambert, Megan L.

AU - Massen, Jorg J.M.

AU - Rodrigues, Michelle A.

AU - Schiestl, Martina

AU - Schwing, Raoul

AU - Szabo, Birgit

AU - Taylor, Alex H.

AU - van Horik, Jayden O.

AU - von Bayern, Auguste M.P.

AU - Seed, Amanda

AU - Slocombe, Katie E.

N1 - © 2019 Blackwell Verlag GmbH. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

PY - 2019/12/16

Y1 - 2019/12/16

N2 - Allogrooming in primates serves not only a hygienic function, but also plays a crucial role in maintaining strong affiliative bonds between group members, which in turn, underpin the emergence of cooperative behavior. In contrast, although allopreening occurs in many avian species, we know little about its social functions. Our study addresses this issue by investigating allopreening in a broad comparative data set including six corvid and nine parrot species. We assessed whether rates of allopreening initiations, proportion of time spent allopreening, and the number of grooming partners in captive group-housed birds were comparable to patterns observed in captive chimpanzees and bonobos. While parrots and corvids were found to have similar rates of social grooming to bonobos and chimpanzees, Pan species dedicated significantly more time to social grooming. Animals in larger groups had more grooming partners, but when controlling for the number of potential partners, birds tended to have fewer grooming interaction partners than Pan species. We then investigated whether allopreening in parrots and corvids was predicted by behavioral markers of affiliative social bonds (close physical proximity, active feeding, and low levels of agonistic behavior). Results revealed that providing allopreening to a partner was significantly predicted by often being in close proximity, but not engagement in active feeding or agonistic behavior. We examined the region allopreened in a subset of species and found that preening a partner's head was predicted by both close physical proximity and active feeding, while body allopreening was only predicted by close physical proximity. Head preening may confer more hygienic benefits to recipients, and thus, may be more selectively provided to valued partners. Results support the hypothesis that allopreening in corvids and parrots helps maintain social bonds with an individual's most important social partners, showing some similarities to allogrooming in primates.

AB - Allogrooming in primates serves not only a hygienic function, but also plays a crucial role in maintaining strong affiliative bonds between group members, which in turn, underpin the emergence of cooperative behavior. In contrast, although allopreening occurs in many avian species, we know little about its social functions. Our study addresses this issue by investigating allopreening in a broad comparative data set including six corvid and nine parrot species. We assessed whether rates of allopreening initiations, proportion of time spent allopreening, and the number of grooming partners in captive group-housed birds were comparable to patterns observed in captive chimpanzees and bonobos. While parrots and corvids were found to have similar rates of social grooming to bonobos and chimpanzees, Pan species dedicated significantly more time to social grooming. Animals in larger groups had more grooming partners, but when controlling for the number of potential partners, birds tended to have fewer grooming interaction partners than Pan species. We then investigated whether allopreening in parrots and corvids was predicted by behavioral markers of affiliative social bonds (close physical proximity, active feeding, and low levels of agonistic behavior). Results revealed that providing allopreening to a partner was significantly predicted by often being in close proximity, but not engagement in active feeding or agonistic behavior. We examined the region allopreened in a subset of species and found that preening a partner's head was predicted by both close physical proximity and active feeding, while body allopreening was only predicted by close physical proximity. Head preening may confer more hygienic benefits to recipients, and thus, may be more selectively provided to valued partners. Results support the hypothesis that allopreening in corvids and parrots helps maintain social bonds with an individual's most important social partners, showing some similarities to allogrooming in primates.

KW - affiliative relationships

KW - allogrooming

KW - allopreening

KW - corvids

KW - parrots

KW - primates

KW - social bonds

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076795126&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/eth.12999

DO - 10.1111/eth.12999

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85076795126

SN - 0179-1613

JO - Ethology

JF - Ethology

ER -