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Together We Stand – Analyzing Schooling Behavior in Naive Newborn Guppies through Biorobotic Predators

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Abstract

A major advantage of animal aggregations concerns cooperative antipredator strategies. Schooling behavior emerges earlier in many fish species, especially in those cannibalizing their offspring. Experience is fundamental for developing schooling behavior. However, the cognitive ability of naive newborn fish to aggregate remains unclear. Herein, Poecilia reticulata, was selected as model organism to investigate how combinations of biomimetic robotic agents and adult conspecific olfactory cues affect collective responses in newborns. The role of white and brown backgrounds in evoking aggregations was also assessed. Olfactory cues were sufficient for triggering aggregations in P. reticulata newborns, although robotic agents had a higher influence on the group coalescence. The combination of robotic agents and olfactory cues increased schooling behavior duration. Notably, schooling was longer in the escape compartment when robotic agents were presented, except for the combination of the male-mimicking robotic fish plus adult guppy olfactory cues, with longer schooling behavior in the exploring compartment. Regardless of the tested cues, newborn fish aggregated preferentially on the brown areas of the arena. Overall, this research provides novel insights on the early collective cognitive ability of newborn fish, paving the way to the use of biomimetic robots in behavioral ecology experiments, as substitutes for real predators.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Tim McGloughlin for helpful discussions on the topic. This research was partially supported by the H2020 Project “Submarine cultures perform long-term robotic exploration of unconventional environmental niches” (subCULTron) (No. 640967FP7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The BioRobotics Institute, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pontedera, Pisa, 56025, Italy

    Donato Romano & Cesare Stefanini

  2. Healthcare Engineering Innovation Center (HEIC), Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, PO Box 127788, United Arab Emirates

    Donato Romano & Cesare Stefanini

  3. Department of Excellence in Robotics & A.I., Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, 56127, Italy

    Donato Romano & Cesare Stefanini

  4. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S, Canada

    Hadeel Elayan

  5. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, 56124, Italy

    Giovanni Benelli

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  1. Donato Romano
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  2. Hadeel Elayan
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  4. Cesare Stefanini
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Correspondence to Donato Romano.

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Romano, D., Elayan, H., Benelli, G. et al. Together We Stand – Analyzing Schooling Behavior in Naive Newborn Guppies through Biorobotic Predators. J Bionic Eng 17, 174–184 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-020-0014-7

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