Do I stand out or blend in? Conspicuousness awareness and consistent behavioural differences in hermit crabs.

Mark Briffa*, Claire Twyman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Animals titrate their behaviour against the level of risk and an individual's conspicuousness should influence decisions such as when to flee and for how long to hide. Conspicuousness will vary with variation in substrate colour. Since hermit crabs frequently change the shells they occupy, shell colour will also influence conspicuousness and to be aware of their conspicuousness would require information on both of these factors to be integrated. Reduced boldness in high-contrast shell and substrate combinations compared with situations of low contrast indicates that hermit crabs are aware of current conspicuousness. Differences between individuals remained consistent across conspicuousness levels indicating the presence of animal personalities.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)330-332
Number of pages0
JournalBiol Lett
Volume7
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Jun 2011

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Anomura
  • Awareness
  • Behavior
  • Animal
  • Color
  • Ecosystem
  • Gastropoda
  • Reflex
  • Startle

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