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"Snorkeling" by the Chicks of the Wattled Jacana

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262 THE WILSON BULLETIN * Vol. 111, No. 2, June 1999 Wilson Bull., 11 l(2), 1999, pp. 262-265 “Snorkeling” by the Chicks of the Wattled Jacana Carlos Basque,”’ and Emilio A. Herrera ABSTRACT-The chicks of the Wattled Jacana behavior exhibited by Wattled Jacana (Jacana (Jacana jucana) exhibited an unusual predator escape jacana) chicks and extend information on the behavior in the floodplains of Venezuela. When ap- hiding behavior of jacana chicks. proached by a human, chicks dove and remained com- pletely immobile while entirely submerged with just The Wattled Jacana inhabits freshwater the beak protruding vertically above the water line. wetlands with floating and emergent vegeta- Since breathing should continue while hiding, we rea- tion throughout its range from northern South soned that it would be advantageous for the bird to America and Panama to central Argentina (de1 have the nostrils placed in a forward position along Hoyo et al. 1996). Like several other jacanas, the bill to facilitate breathing while submerged. To ex- Wattled Jacanas show sex-role reversal and a amine this expectation we compared the relative po- sition of the nostrils of the Wattled Jacana with those polyandrous mating system (Osborne 1982). of species belonging to phylogenetically related Scol- Although few details have been reported on opacidae. In accordance with expectations, Wattled Ja- Wattled Jacanas (see Osborne and Boume canas have nostrils that are placed significantly more 1977, Osborne 1982), it is generally assumed forward along the bill than all species of Scolopacidae to have similar behavioral traits to the North- measured. Nostril placement in species belonging to em Jacana (J. spinosa; de1 Hoyo et al. 1996). other phylogenetically related families, Thinocoridae, Pedionomidae, and Rostratulide is also basal as in Chicks are highly precocious, leaving the nest Scolopacidae. Forward placement of nostrils seems to soon after hatching, but are tended by the be a derived character in jacanas. The “snorkeling” male parent. Parental care includes brooding, behavior of Wattled Jacana chicks is a behaviorally attending and defending, but not feeding the elaborate predator escape mechanism, seemingly ac- chicks (Jenni and Collier 1972, Stephens companied by anatomical adaptations. Received 16 1984a, Betts and Jenni 1991). Females aid June 1998, accepted 15 Dec. 1998. males in defending offspring from potential predators or conspecifics (Jenni and Collier 1972, Stephens 1984a). Heavy predation pres- Predation is often the major mortality factor sure on eggs and chicks appears to be impor- of young birds and is therefore an important tant in both Wattled and Northern jacanas selective force shaping the behavior of young (Jenni 1974; Osborne and Boume 1977; Ste- birds and their parents (Rickleffs 1969, Martin phens 1984a, b). 1992). Capabilities of precocial chicks to es- Our observations were made on a savanna cape predation or defend themselves from flooded approximately 40 cm deep, covered predators are limited. Their chances of pre- with floating and emergent vegetation (Eic- dation are largely dependent on actions taken chornia sp., Hymenachne amplexicaulis) at by their parents. When predators approach Hato El Frio, a cattle ranch and biological re- their chicks, adults frequently perform “dis- serve in the southern Llanos (floodplains) of traction displays” that often divert the atten- Venezuela (7” 46 ’ N, 68” 57 ’ W). As E.H. ap- tion of the predator away from their offspring proached a pair of jacana adults with three (Skutch 1976). Safety of precocial chicks also chicks, one of the adults, presumably the depends upon their small size, concealing col- male, performed a typical “broken wing” dis- oration and immobility (Skutch 1976). In this play, jumping and apparently attempting un- note we describe an unusual predator escape successfully to fly. As the observer continued to approach, the parents llew away. When we I Dept. Biologfa de Organismos, Univ. Simon Bo- looked among the vegetation for the chicks lfvar, Apartado 89.000, Caracas 1080, Venezuela. z Dept. Estudios Ambientales, Univ. Simon Bolfvar, they were nowhere to be seen. While search- Apartado 89.000, Caracas 1080, Venezuela. ing, we found that what seemed to be an odd 3 Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected] looking slender yellowish flower was in fact SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 263 the bill of one of the young jacanas. The chick 0.4 , remained completely immobile while entirely submerged with just the beak protruding ver- tically above the water. By bringing a hand from below we were able to pick up the bird, which made no attempt to escape nor showed any defense behavior. The chick was in the downy stage. This hiding behavior should reduce the chances of detection by predators or aggres- sive conspecifics. For it to be effective, the chick should remain motionless underwater for an unpredictable length of time. In order to continue breathing while submerged it would be advantageous to have the nostrils placed toward the tip of the bill. - To examine this prediction, we compared I I ( I ( I I I CH GO CF NP Al CS BL JJa JJj JJc the relative position of the nostrils of the Wat- tled Jacana with those of phylogenetically re- SPECIES lated species. Of the four other families in the FIG. 1. A comparison of the relative position of same parvorder (Sibley and Monroe 1990) the nostrils along the bill between Jacana jacana and only Scolopacidae occur in Venezuela and several species of Scolopacidae. Mean Index values (2 SD), see text for definition of the Index. Species are: specimens were available in bird collections. CH = Calidris himantopus, GG = Gallinago gallin- We selected at random 6 of the 12 genera of ago, CF = Calidris fuscicollis, NP = Numenius phaeo- Scolopacidae that occur in the country (Meyer pus, AI = Arenaria interpres, CS = Catoptrophorus de Schauensee and Phelps 1978) and one spe- semipalmatus, BL = Bartramia longicauda, JJa = Ja- cies from each of these, except for speciose cana jacana (adults), JJj = J. jacana (juveniles), JJc genus Calidris from which we chose two spe- = J. jacana chick. n = 10 in all cases, except for the single J. jacana chick. Horizontal lines above species cies. In 10 individuals of each species we labels indicate similarity between the index mean of measured the length of the exposed culmen those species (from Tukey HSD test). Jacana jacana (EC) and the distance between the posterior juveniles and the chick were not included in the test. margin of the right nostril and the tip of the bill (NT). Specimens, selected at random, were measured at the Phelps Ornithological < 0.001, F = 143.632, df = 7); the single Museum in Caracas with calipers to 0.1 mm. jacana chick and juveniles were not included For jacanas we measured separately adults, ju- in this comparison. A Tukey HSD a posteriori veniles, and the one downy chick in the col- test revealed a number of significant differ- lection. The exposed culmen was measured ences between species (P < 0.05; Fig. 1). from the base of the frontal shield where it Wattled Jacana nostrils are placed significant- rises more abruptly. From those measurements ly more forward along the bill than all species we calculated an index (I) to describe the rel- of Scolopacidae measured (Fig. 1). Nostrils ative position of the nostrils along the bill: were also placed forward on juveniles and one newly hatched downy chick. I = (EC - NT)/EC Nostril placement in species belonging to The value of this index should be zero in families phylogenetically related to the Jacan- those species in which the nostrils are placed idae, but not available to us, can be seen in at the base of the bill and closer to one the photographs in de1 Hoyo and coworkers nearer the nostrils are to the bill tip. Statistical (1996). Both species of Rostratulidae (belong- analyses were done with SYSTAT 7.0 for ing in the same superfamily with Jacanidae) Windows (Wilkinson 1997). have nostrils placed basally (de1 Hoyo et al. Mean relative position of the nostrils dif- 1996293-299). In the Plains-wanderer (Pe- fered between species (Fig. 1; Single Factor dionomus torquatus, Pedionomidae), the pos- ANOVA on the arcsine-transformed data: P terior end of its longish marina is clearly set 264 THE WILSON BULLETIN l Vol. 111, No. 2, June 1999 back (de1 Hoyo et al. 1996535-536). The cor- Greater Anis (Crotophaga major; Lau et al., naceous flaps covering the nostrils of the in press) jump from their nest and swim or Thinocopridae (Thinocorus spp., Attugis gayi) dive in the water below; the precocial chicks appear to be placed at the base of the bill also of Purple Gallinules (Porphirzda martinica) (de1 Hoyo et al. 1996:539-543). dive when threatened (Zaida T&no, pers. It appears that basal placement of the nos- comm.). Interestingly, the latter and conge- trils is ancestral in the group and that forward neric P. jlavirostris have nostrils displaced displacement in jacanas is a derived character. forward along the bill (pers. obs.). We cannot assert that breathing while sub- merged was an important selective force in the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS forward displacement of jacana nostrils, but their current position should facilitate it. We gratefully acknowledge Dr. I. D. Maldonado for his hospitality and permission to work at Hato El Frio. Young of jacanas are known to avoid pred- M. Lentino, curator of the Phelps Ornithological Mu- ators or aggressive conspecifics by taking to seum, allowed us to measure specimens and made water and snorkeling behavior is shared with helpful suggestions. I. Carreiio helped measure speci- other species. The chicks of the Northern Ja- mens. Reviewers and editorial staff of The Wilson Bul- cana, which is considered to form a superspe- letin improved the manuscript. ties with the Wattled Jacana (de1 Hoyo et al.
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