ORCID

Abstract

Fighting animals use a variety of information sources to make strategic decisions. A neglected potential source of information is an individual’s own performance during a fight. Surprisingly, this possibility has yet to be incorporated into the large body of theory concerning the evolution of aggressive behaviour. Here we test for the possibility that attacking hermit crabs monitor their own fight performance by experimentally dampening the impact of their shell rapping behaviour. Attackers with dampened raps did not show a reduction in the number of raps used. In contrast, they showed an increased frequency of a less intense agonistic behaviour, shell rocking. This change in behaviour, in attackers that are forced to rap weakly, indicates that they assess their own agonistic behaviour.

DOI

10.1098/rsbl.2015.0884

Publication Date

2015-12-03

Publication Title

Biology Letters

Volume

12

Issue

1

ISSN

1744-9561

Embargo Period

2017-01-06

Organisational Unit

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Keywords

Contest, Assessment, Decision, Hermit crab, Agonistic, RHP

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