Anticipatory Alarm Behavior in Bengalese Finches

Abstract

The ability for short-term alarm precognition was explored in Bengalese finches. During the experimental trials, subjects were put individually for 20 minutes in a testing cage and in the last 5 minutes a 15-second video clip of a slowly crawling snake was shown to them in a TFT screen. The video clip was presented at random starting out from 20 possible randomly predetermined options. During the control trials, no snake video clip was shown to the birds. Subjects were filmed, and, in a double-blind fashion, the frequency of their display of alarm was registered 0-3, 3-6, and 6-9 seconds immediately before stimulus presentation and before the same moment of the control trial for each bird. As a second control, behavior frequency was also registered immediately before the 10-minute point after the initiation of the experimental trial. The results showed that the birds reacted to the snake video clip at least 9 seconds before presentation, the frequency of the alarm display during that period being higher than that during both controls. Females and males did not differ significantly in any of the measures.

Keywords: alarm display--Bengalese finches--birds--precognition