Abstract
False feedings, when individuals visit the nest but refrain from feeding the chicks, occur in some cooperative species and have been interpreted in the white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) as active deception by helpers towards the rest of the group. In a cooperatively breeding population of carrion crows (Corvus corone corone) 81.5% of the individuals that provided nestling care showed various kinds of false feedings: arriving at the nest with no food, consuming part or all the food brought to the nest, or taking back from a chick’s gape the food that had just been delivered. False feedings occurred on average during 16.3% of nest visits, with some individuals performing them at very high rates (up to 64% of nest visits). False feedings occurred at similar rates in unassisted pairs and groups with helpers, and breeding females showed false feeding at significantly higher rates than other group members. Furthermore, individuals showed false feedings regardless of whether they were alone on the nest or in the presence of other group members, and false feedings did not provoke aggression by the rest of the group. False feedings are not likely to represent deceptive help in the carrion crow. We suggest that crows evaluate the chicks’ condition during nest visits and that false feedings occur as result of a trade-off between their own hunger and the chicks’ needs.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Chris Boland, Jeff Walters, Nick Davies, Camilla Hinde and an anonymous referee for valuable comments of the manuscript, to Giuseppe Bogliani, Jan Ekman, Michael Griesser and Sönke Eggers for constructive discussion, to Gunilla Olsson, Håkan Tegelstrom and Jacob Höglund for help in the lab, to Pili Zumel for help in the field and to Jesus García and José Navarro for technical support in developing the system of video recording at the nests. This study was financially supported by the Gates Cambridge Trust (to D.C.), the Ministero Italiano dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, the “Training and Mobility of Researchers” program of the European Commission, and the Zoologiska Stiftelsen (to V.B.). Bird trapping, banding and blood sampling were legally authorized by Junta de Castilla y León.
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Canestrari, D., Marcos, J.M. & Baglione, V. False feedings at the nests of carrion crows Corvus corone corone . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 55, 477–483 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0719-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0719-8