Superb fairy-wrens help others following similar rules as humans
Superb fairy-wrens are more likely to take risks to help members of their close social circle, according to a new international study led by Monash University.
The study, published in Current Biology, is the first to show that that superb fairy-wrens use similar rules as human hunter-gatherers when deciding how much help to offer to a fellow-wren in distress.
Both species live in what’s known as multilevel societies, starting with a core group of just a few closely connected individuals.
“We spent many hours in the field studying the social lives of superb fairy-wrens,” said lead author and PhD candidate at Monash University’s School of Biological Sciences, Ettore Camerlenghi.
“We found the wrens, like hunter-gatherers, have three distinct types of relations – those from the same breeding group, those from the same community and unfamiliar individuals from the wider population,” he said.
The research team recorded distress calls for a large number of fairy-wrens - used to vocalise a warning when an individual feels in imminent danger from a predator.
“These calls can trigger other individuals to approach and give alarm calls,” said co-author Professor Robert Magrath from the Australian National University (ANU) said. “But they can also use a distinctive behavioural display to distract the predator, which places the birds doing so at great risk.”
Study author Professor Anne Peters from Monash University said the researchers found the superb fairy-wrens were picky with who they assisted in such a risky manner.
“They’ll risk life and limb to help family members, they are more cautious in their assistance to familiar wrens from the same community, but won’t engage for strangers,” Professor Peters said.
As with humans, the different social levels perform different functions.
Core units give individuals access to high value help when needed, whereas the broader society might give super fairy-wrens the power in numbers when facing much larger predators.
“Exploring this can help us to better understand the benefits linked to living in multilevel societies,” Professor Peters said.
"What is really fascinating about this research is that it shows how much we still have yet to discover even in the common birds that inhabit our gardens,” said Associate Professor Damien Farine from the ANU.
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