In retrospect, it would have been interesting to include a cryptic unpalatable control in our defensive treatments, to better distinguish between go-slow predation and taste rejection by predators. However, while experiments with captive avian predators have shown that taste rejection occurs with both cryptic and conspicuous chemically defended prey, predators were more likely to learn cautious sampling or outright avoidance when chemical defence was paired with conspicuous coloration (Sillen-Tullberg, find more 1985; Halpin et al.,

2008). Our results have demonstrated a potential defensive advantage for aposematic prey that is consistent with go-slow predation. Although aposematic and cryptic prey are attacked at similar rates, aposematic prey are consumed less often, indicating that they may be more often rejected by predators after sampling. This could represent an important benefit of aposematism as a defensive strategy, and may have played a role in the

evolution of aposematism in the face of significant RAD001 price metabolic and signalling costs. We thank Dr Innes Cuthill and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive critiques, as well as T. Hossie for providing helpful comments on the paper, and E. Korshikov and J. Kong for their work conducting field experiments. We also thank the Ottawa National Capital Commission (NCC) for permission to work on their land. This experiment

was approved by the Carleton University Animal Care Committee and conducted in accordance with research guidelines set out by the Canadian Council on Animal Care. This research was funded through a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery grant awarded to T.N.S. Figure S1. Map of experimental sites in Gatineau Park, Gatineau, QC. Figure S2. Artificial prey targets used in the experiment. A: high crypsis, B: low crypsis, C: high unpalatability, D: low unpalatability, E: control. In sites 3 MCE公司 and 4, the colours of the low and high unpalatablility targets were reversed. Figure S3. Mean % reflectance by wavelength from the bark of 7 maple trees (Acer saccharum), as well as the two cryptic prey colours. Reflectance curves were obtained by averaging 10 measurements from each sample. Figure S4. Cumulative survival probability for each prey type, separated by trial (rows) and predation measure (columns). There were significant differences between trials for all three predation measures. “
“Technical progress in animal-borne tracking and movement data analysis has facilitated the understanding of the interplay between successive periods in the life cycle of migratory animals. We investigated how sex differences on the constraints of homing may influence migration to breeding areas in crested penguins (genus Eudyptes).