RT Journal Article
T1 Flexible Helping Behaviour in the Azure-Winged Magpie
A1 Valencia-Ruíz, Juliána
A1 De la Cruz, Carlos
A1 González, Beatriz
K1 Ornitología
AB Helping to rear the offspring of others may be a way for younger birds to gain access to future reproduction especially when turnover of breeding opportunities is low. However, this explanation is not applicable to cases where adults also help, or when roles shift between helpers and breeders. Over a period of 6-yr, we studied a marked population of azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) breeding in a non-territorial, colonial system. Magpies bred in a highly flexible cooperative system, in which individuals helped at different stages of the breeding cycle, including nest building, feeding the incubating female and feeding the young and removing the faecal sacs. On average, 50% of hatched nests were assisted by helpers-at-the-nest, and nest success appeared to be positively related to the presence of helpers. Helpers were predominantly males. Although juveniles were more likely to help, both juvenile and adult birds helped. Individual birds behaved as helpers either as a first-option or after having attempted their own breeding (second-option helpers). An individual helper may assist more than one nest during the same breeding season and in different breeding seasons. Reversals between breeder and helper roles were common in both directions, within a breeding season and between years. Helping behaviour is an option for almost any member of the colony. Therefore, hypotheses related to the enhancement of future breeding opportunities for juveniles can be discarded as general explanation of helping in this species. Although the decision to help appeared to be influenced by proximal environmental conditions hindering successful breeding, the associated benefits of helping as opposed to simply recovering for future reproduction, especially for former breeders, deserve further study
PB Blackwell Verlag
YR 2003
FD 2003-07-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/33362
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/33362
LA eng
NO Valencia, J., de la Cruz, C. & González, B. (2003). Flexible Helping Behaviour in the Azure-Winged Magpie, Ethology, 109 (7): 545–558
NO Research of BG was supported by a post-graduated research grant from "Junta de Andalucía"
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 19 ene 2026