Comparative Analysis of Time Spent Grooming By Birds in Relation To Parasite Load
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Abstract
Although grooming and other kinds of maintenance activity are important components of the behavioural repertoire of terrestrial vertebrates, comparative studies of the proportion of time budgets devoted to maintenance are lacking. Data were collated on the proportion of their time-budgets devoted to maintenance behaviour by 62 different bird species. On average, birds spend 9.2% of the day in maintenance activities, with the major component (92.6%) being grooming. Male birds devoted more time to maintenance than females, except in the case of ducks. Maintenance time does not appear to correlate with morphology, moult, latitude, coloniality or season. However, bird species known to harbour more parasitic louse species spend more time on maintenance than do host species with few lice.
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Comparative Analysis of Time Spent Grooming By Birds in Relation To Parasite Load
In: BehaviourSearch for other papers by Peter Cotgreave in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Dale H. Clayton in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Although grooming and other kinds of maintenance activity are important components of the behavioural repertoire of terrestrial vertebrates, comparative studies of the proportion of time budgets devoted to maintenance are lacking. Data were collated on the proportion of their time-budgets devoted to maintenance behaviour by 62 different bird species. On average, birds spend 9.2% of the day in maintenance activities, with the major component (92.6%) being grooming. Male birds devoted more time to maintenance than females, except in the case of ducks. Maintenance time does not appear to correlate with morphology, moult, latitude, coloniality or season. However, bird species known to harbour more parasitic louse species spend more time on maintenance than do host species with few lice.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2537 | 299 | 24 |
| Full Text Views | 374 | 14 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 343 | 22 | 0 |
