Earley Ryan L, Tinsley Megan, Dugatkin Lee Alan
Department of Biology, Life Sciences Building, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Naturwissenschaften. 2003 May;90(5):226-30. doi: 10.1007/s00114-003-0415-6. Epub 2003 Apr 23.
Animals assess the fighting ability of conspecifics either by engaging in aggressive interactions or observing contests between others. However, whether individuals assess physical prowess outside the context of aggressive interactions remains unknown. We examined whether male green swordtails ( Xiphophorus helleri) extract information about the fighting ability of solitary individuals via observation and whether acquiring such information elicits behavioral modifications. Contests preceded by mutual visual assessment were significantly shorter than fights where only one or neither of the two individuals was informed in advance. Focal animals initiated aggressive behavior more often against larger opponents only after previewing their adversary, indicating that swordtails can extract information about relative body size from watching solitary conspecifics. When a fighting disadvantage is perceived, observers adopt tactics that increase their probability of winning the contest.
动物通过进行攻击性互动或观察其他个体之间的争斗来评估同种个体的战斗能力。然而，个体是否在攻击性互动之外评估身体 prowess 仍不清楚。我们研究了雄性绿剑尾鱼（Xiphophorus helleri）是否通过观察从单独个体中提取有关战斗能力的信息，以及获取此类信息是否会引发行为改变。相互视觉评估之前的争斗明显短于只有一方或双方都未提前得知对手的争斗。焦点动物只有在预览对手后才更频繁地对较大的对手发起攻击行为，这表明剑尾鱼可以通过观察单独的同种个体提取有关相对体型的信息。当察觉到战斗劣势时，观察者会采取增加其赢得比赛概率的策略。
