Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2258, USA.
Sci Rep. 2016 Aug 30;6:32471. doi: 10.1038/srep32471.
Even when animals are actively monitoring their environment, they lose access to visual information whenever they blink. They can strategically time their blinks to minimize information loss and improve visual functioning but we have little understanding of how this process operates in birds. This study therefore examined blinking in freely-moving peacocks (Pavo cristatus) to determine the relationship between their blinks, gaze shifts, and context. Peacocks wearing a telemetric eye-tracker were exposed to a taxidermy predator (Vulpes vulpes) and their blinks and gaze shifts were recorded. Peacocks blinked during the majority of their gaze shifts, especially when gaze shifts were large, thereby timing their blinks to coincide with periods when visual information is already suppressed. They inhibited their blinks the most when they exhibited high rates of gaze shifts and were thus highly alert. Alternative hypotheses explaining the link between blinks and gaze shifts are discussed.
即使动物在积极监测环境，每当它们眨眼时，它们也会失去视觉信息。它们可以战略性地安排眨眼时间，以最小化信息丢失并改善视觉功能，但我们对鸟类的这一过程如何运作知之甚少。因此，本研究通过对自由移动的孔雀（Pavo cristatus）进行眨眼研究，以确定它们的眨眼、注视转移和环境之间的关系。佩戴遥测眼球追踪器的孔雀被暴露在一个制成标本的捕食者（赤狐）面前，同时记录它们的眨眼和注视转移。孔雀在大多数注视转移期间眨眼，尤其是当注视转移较大时，从而安排它们的眨眼时间与视觉信息已经被抑制的时间段相吻合。当它们表现出较高的注视转移率时，它们最抑制眨眼，因此高度警觉。本文还讨论了解释眨眼和注视转移之间联系的替代假说。
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