Perception of artificial conspecifics by bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps)

Frohnwieser, Anna; Pike, Thomas W.; Murray, John C.; Wilkinson, Anna

Abstract

Artificial animals are increasingly used as conspecific stimuli in animal behavior research. However, researchers often have an incomplete understanding of how the species under study perceives conspecifics, and, hence, which features are needed for a stimulus to be perceived appropriately. To investigate the features that bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) attend to, we measured their lateralized eye use when assessing a successive range of stimuli. These ranged through several stages of realism in artificial conspecifics, to see how features such as color, the presence of eyes, body shape and motion influence behavior. We found differences in lateralized eye use depending on the sex of the observing bearded dragon and the artificial conspecific, as well as the artificial conspecific's behavior. Therefore, this approach can inform the design of robotic animals that elicit biologically-meaningful responses in live animals.

Citation

Frohnwieser, A., Pike, T. W., Murray, J. C., & Wilkinson, A. (2019). Perception of artificial conspecifics by bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps). Integrative Zoology, 14(2), 214-222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12303

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 9, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jan 9, 2018
• Publication Date: 2019-03
• Deposit Date: May 2, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 10, 2019
• Journal: Integrative Zoology
• Print ISSN: 1749-4869
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 214-222
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12303
• Keywords: Bearded dragons; Conspecifics; Lateralized eye use; Perception
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/799505
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1749-4877.12303
• Related Public URLs: http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/30614/
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the article with citation details as supplied above, which has been published in final form at the DOI link above. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
• Contract Date: May 2, 2018