A research group led by Kohei Takeda, a research fellow at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, has empirically revealed that male and female pairs of animals perform a pair of unbreeding, breathtaking dances.This overturns the conventional wisdom that sophisticated dance strengthens mutual ties and promotes breeding, and is the first study in the world to show the role of a pair of dancing dances.
In many birds, such as little grebes and albatrosses, breeding mates, males and females, perform sophisticated dances together, but their role is unknown. In 1942, the "pair bond" hypothesis that dance has the function of strengthening and maintaining a pair bond was proposed and established, but it was not empirically verified.
This time, we conducted a two-year survey in Kushiro, Hokkaido, and observed 21 pairs of wild red-crowned cranes. From December to March, 12 cases of pair dance performed at the feeding ground during the wintering season were recorded by video, and analyzed and quantified using information theory.
As a result, the closer to the breeding season, the longer the dance time, and the other characteristics did not change.In addition, the more the individuals who had little breeding experience in the past formed, the more they danced in a breathtaking and highly coordinated dance.Other dance features were independent of past breeding history.Also, the success of the next breeding of the pack was not related to any of the characteristics, including the coordination of the dance.These results were found to be contrary to or inconsistent with the predictions of the "pair bond" hypothesis.
It is said that there are still many mysteries in pair dance, such as the relationship between individual development and physiological conditions, and the evolutionary process of sophisticated and complicated dance of Japanese cranes.In the future, more detailed research will be the key to understanding the complex communication of animals including humans.
Paper information:[Behavioral Ecology] Uncoordinated dances associated with high reproductive success in a crane
