Nocturnal colour vision in geckos by Dr LSV Roth and Dr A Kelber
The night-active helmet gecko can discriminate colours under dim light conditions when humans are colour-blind. These geckos are the first known vertebrates with such colour vision ability. We trained and tested helmet geckos on different blue and grey chequered patterns. Both patterns were associated with one cricket each but the cricket together with the grey pattern was salted and distasteful for the geckos. Our results show that the geckos were able to learn and discriminate the blue pattern from the grey one even though the patterns were changed every training day.
Contact: Dr Lina Roth, Department of Cell and Organism Biology, University of Lund, Helgonavgen 3, LUND, S-223 62, Sweden
Distress calls may honestly signal bird quality to predators by Dr P Laiolo, Dr JL Tella, Dr M Carrete, Dr D Serrano and Dr G Lopez
Predators and prey engage in an arms race in which interactors tend to increase their fitness and survival. As predators tend to attack the most vulnerable prey to reduce energy loss, preys are expected to advertise their escape ability. We recorded the distress calls (those screams emitted in conditions of the utmost danger) of a small passerine, and examined the relationship between call physical properties and caller nutritional and immunological condition. Scream harshness, a feature expressing aggression, was related to caller health, suggesting that these calls might honestly signal prey conditi
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Contact: Tim Watson
tim.watson@royalsoc.ac.uk
44-207-451-2508
Royal Society
9-Nov-2004