Do captive golden mantella frogs recognise wild conspecifics calls? Responses to the playback of captive and wild calls
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19227/jzar.v9i1.476Keywords:
amphibians, bioacoustics, behavioural skills, conservation, playbackAbstract
With so many species being threatened with extinction, captive breeding programmes are becoming an important aspect of ex-situ conservation. Captive populations are important for species conservation and for reintroduction back into the wild. Some of the most important wild behaviours to maintain in captive animals are those associated with sexual reproduction, such as courtship and mating. Amphibian reproductive behaviour is associated with call patterns, with studies demonstrating that male advertisement calls elicit positive behavioural responses from females. This study evaluated the response of captive golden mantella frogs Mantella aurantiaca to playback calls from different wild and captive populations (one generation in captivity and more than five generations in captivity). During the experiment, three different calls were used as treatments: one from wild populations, and two from captive populations. Generalised linear mixed models were used to evaluate the effects of the playback treatments on the behaviour of captive frogs: replicates and enclosures were used as random factors. The model showed that vocalisations from wild individuals led to an increase in movement and social behaviours while calls from captive frogs did not. This was especially true of frogs bred for more than five generations in captivity. This could have negative consequences on the reproduction of captive frogs if released to the wild.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).