African penguins utilize their ventral dot patterns for individual recognition

• Published in: Animal behaviour Vol. 207; pp. 13 - 21
• Main Authors: Baciadonna, Luigi, Solvi, Cwyn, Terranova, Francesca, Godi, Camilla, Pilenga, Cristina, Favaro, Livio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2024
• Subjects: animal communication; monogamy; penguins; Spheniscus demersus
• ISSN: 0003-3472
• DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.10.005

Birds are known to be highly social and visual animals. Yet no specific visual feature has been identified to be responsible for individual recognition in birds. Here, using a differential looking paradigm across five experiments, we demonstrated that African penguins, Spheniscus demersus, spontaneously discriminated between life-size photographs of their monogamous, lifelong partner and a nonpartner colonymate using their ventral dot patterns. Our findings challenge the assumption of limited visual involvement in penguin communication and suggest a rather complex and flexible recognition process in these birds. The combination of our current results and previous findings, which showed cross-modal (visual/auditory) recognition in these animals, suggests that African penguins use their ventral dot patterns to individually recognize their colonymates. Our results provide the first evidence of a specific visual cue responsible for spontaneous individual recognition by a bird, and highlight the importance of considering all sensory modalities in the study of animal communication.