Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 158, December 2019, Pages 121-130
Animal Behaviour

Affiliative social relationships and coccidian oocyst excretion in a cooperatively breeding bird species

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.10.009Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Interactions with conspecifics modulate the physiological stress response.

  • Stable social relationships can dampen an individual's stress response.

  • We investigated the relationship between social bonds and parasite excretion.

  • Crows with strong social bonds excreted fewer samples containing coccidian oocysts.

In group-living animals, behavioural interactions with conspecifics strongly modulate an individual's physiological stress response. Stable social relationships may reduce an individual's stress response, which in turn can affect the immune system and health. Ultimately, positive health effects of stable social bonds may contribute to maintaining group living. We investigated whether, in cooperatively breeding carrion crows, Corvus corone, the quality of social relationships correlates with the excretion of coccidian oocysts and nematode eggs. We repeatably collected behavioural data on dyadic social interactions and individual droppings to quantify parasite eggs and oocysts from 36 individuals in a captive population of carrion crows in northern Spain. Individuals with strong social bonds, living with more relatives and in larger groups, excreted a significantly smaller proportion of droppings containing coccidian oocysts. The probability of excreting droppings containing nematode eggs was not affected by social factors. The relationship between social interactions and coccidian oocyst excretion is consistent with the idea that high-quality social relationships can positively affect an individual's health, setting the stage for the evolution of stable social living.

Section snippets

Ethical Note

All procedures were conducted in accordance with the ASAB/ABS guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research. Keeping crows in captivity and the procedures performed were authorized by Junta de Castilla y León (núcleo zoológico 005074/2008; EP/LE/358/2009).

Study Subjects

We collected data during seven phases (November 2008, December 2008–January 2009, January–February 2013, May–June 2013, January–February 2014, May–June 2014, September–October 2014), from a total of 36 crows (17 females, 19

Social Bonds

We recorded a mean ± SE of 23.64 ± 3.38 affiliative interactions per individual as well as 12.21 ± 2.41 aggressive interactions won and 17.51 ± 2.44 lost per individual. We observed 56 bonded dyads (out of 327 dyads in total), 37 of which were male–female dyads (17 between related individuals and 20 between unrelated individuals), 11 were male–male (seven between related and four between unrelated individuals) and eight female–female (seven related, one unrelated). Thirty-three dyads with a CSI higher

Discussion

In the present study, we have shown that carrion crows with closely bonded social partners (high CSI scores) were less likely to excrete coccidian oocysts, which represent an important threat for health in birds (Hõrak et al., 2004, Stenkewitz et al., 2016). Health correlates of high-quality social ties have been reported in humans (e.g. Seeman, 1996). Similar evidence has recently been found in nonhuman primates (Schülke et al., 2010, Silk et al., 2010a), suggesting that the tendency to form

Acknowledgments

We thank Kurt Kotrschal for feedback and discussion, Hugo Robles for statistical advice and Friederike Hillemann for help with collection of droppings. Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar advised on calculation of dated individual Elo-rating trajectories. We also thank Bernhard Voelkl and two anonymous referees for valuable comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Spanish Plan Nacional I+D, project CGL2011-27260 and CGL2016-77636-P, to V.B. and a KWA (‘kurzfristiges wissenschaftliches

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