DISTRACTION DISPLAY AND THE HUMAN PREDATOR.

Summary. Evidence concerning the size of human populations and man's mentality in the past shows that human influence on the evolution of distraction display cannot have been appreciable. This is supported by ethological evidence. Threat elements, modified by retreat behaviour, are conspicuous in distraction display. Boldness, not tameness, is involved. Threat display is regarded as consisting mainly of “checked” attack movements. Distraction displays have been perfected through the elimination of inadequate performers by predators other than man. The limited number of relevant predators in high northern latitudes as compared with tropical forest has resulted in more specialized displays by birds breeding in the Arctic. Birds often attack ungulates rather than injury-simulate to them. This is apparently an adaptation evolved to deter wild herbivores. In its evolution, as well as its performance, distraction display may be due to conflict between defence and retreat motivations. Non-human predators possess discriminative abilities sufficient to account for the elaboration of distraction displays.

[1]  E. A. Armstrong.  THE BEHAVIOUR AND BREEDING BIOLOGY OF THE SHETLAND WREN. , 2008 .

[2]  A. Skutch.  THE PARENTAL STRATAGEMS OF BIRDS , 2008 .

[3]  E. A. Armstrong.  DIVERSIONARY DISPLAY.–PART 1. CONNOTATION AND TERMINOLOGY , 2008 .

[4]  K. Williamson.  THE DISTRACTION BEHAVIOUR OF THE ARCTIC SKUA , 2008 .

[5]  K. Williamson.  REGIONAL VARIATION IN THE DISTRACTION DISPLAYS OF THE OYSTER-CATCHER. , 2008 .

[6]  E. A. Armstrong.  The ecology of distraction display , 1954 .

[7]  N. Tinbergen.  "Derived" Activities; Their Causation, Biological Significance, Origin, and Emancipation During Evolution , 1952, The Quarterly Review of Biology.

[8]  G. Clark.  Fowling in Prehistoric Europe , 1948, Antiquity.

[9]  C. Deane.  The Broken-Wing Behavior of the Killdeer , 1944 .

[10]  C. Cottam,et al.  "Injury Feigning" by Birds , 1936 .

[11]  K. Lorenz,et al.  Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels , 1935, Journal für Ornithologie.

[12]  H. S. Swarth.  Injury-Feigning in Nesting Birds , 1935 .

[13]  K. Lorenz,et al.  Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels , 1935, Journal für Ornithologie.

[14]  P. Brodkorb.  A Hybrid in the Genus Dendroica , 1934 .

[15]  K.E.L. Simmons.  The Nature of the Predator-Reactions of Waders Towards Humans; With Special Reference To the Role of the Aggressive-, Escape- and Brooding-Drives 1) , 1955 .

[16]  M. Moynihan,et al.  Some Comments On Conflict and Thwarting in Animals , 1954 .

[17]  R. Hinde,et al.  The Conflict Between Drives in the Courtship and Copulation of the Chaffinch , 1953 .

[18]  K.E.L. Simmons.  The Nature of the Predator-Reactions of Breeding Birds 1) , 1951 .

[19]  G. Bergman.  Der Steinwälzer, Arenaria i. interpres (L.), in seiner Beziehung zur Umwelt , 1946 .

[20]  R. S. Palmer.  A behavior study of the common tern , 1941 .