Abstract:
Tonic immobility is an antipredator defence in which the prey animal remains motionless after physical contact with the predator, pretending to be dead. This behaviour has been observed among a variety of taxa but has received only little attention in amphibian larvae. During our field studies with fire salamander larvae, we observed that larvae from different habitats display tonic immobility after handling. In our study site, we find larvae in pond and stream habitats, that differ in several aspects such as their stress response and their risk-taking behaviour, likely caused by the very different habitat conditions. We measured the time that the tonic immobility behaviour was displayed but found no difference between larvae from the two habitat types. Likewise, we also found no correlation between the size of the larvae and the duration of displaying the behaviour. In conclusion, we found that fire salamander larvae show tonic immobility, but found no evidence that the different habitat conditions influence the tonic immobility behaviour.
摘要:
补性不动是一种反捕食者的防御,在这种防御中,被捕食者在与捕食者身体接触后保持静止,假装死了。在各种分类单元中都观察到了这种行为,但在两栖动物幼虫中却很少受到关注。在我们对火sal幼虫的野外研究中,我们观察到来自不同栖息地的幼虫在处理后表现出滋补不动性。在我们的研究中心,我们在池塘和溪流栖息地发现幼虫,在几个方面有所不同,例如他们的压力反应和冒险行为,可能是由非常不同的栖息地条件引起的。我们测量了显示补品不动行为的时间,但发现两种栖息地类型的幼虫之间没有差异。同样,我们还发现幼虫的大小与表现行为的持续时间之间没有相关性。总之,我们发现火sal幼虫表现出补品不动性,但没有发现证据表明不同的栖息地条件会影响滋补不动行为。