PARENT-OFFSPRING RECOGNITION IN THICK-BILLED MURRES (AVES, ALCIDAE)

Using field experiments, we investigated the development of parent-off spring recognition in the thick-billed murre, Uria lomvia. Cross-foste ring experiments (N = 73) showed that the likelihood of parents accept ing a foreign chick decreased with chick age. Simultaneous-choice play back experiments demonstrated that chicks discriminate between the cal ls of their parents and both strange and familiar adult conspecifics f rom as early as 3 days old. In presentation experiments with chicks of fledging age (greater than or equal to 14 days), adults responded mor e strongly to the calls of their own chicks than to other familiar chi cks from the same breeding ledge. Results are consistent with those of earlier studies of parent-offspring recognition in the congeneric and ecologically similar common murre, U. aalge, which were among the fir st to suggest that parent birds and their chicks can identify each oth er's calls. (C) 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour .