Social cohesion and prey location in seabirds are largely enabled through visual and olfactory signals, but these behavioural aspects could potentially also be enhanced through acoustic transfer of information. Should this be the case, calling behaviour could be influenced by different social–ecological stimuli. African Penguins Spheniscus demersus were equipped with animal‐borne video recorders to determine whether the frequency and types of calls emitted at sea were dependent on behavioural modes (commuting, sedentary and dive bout) and social status (solitary vs. group). For foraging dive bouts we assessed whether the timing and frequency of calls were significantly different in the presence of schooling prey vs. single fish. The probability of call events was significantly more likely for birds commuting early and late in the day (for solitary birds) and during dive bouts (for groups). During foraging dive bouts the frequency of calls was significantly greater for birds diving in the presence of schooling fish and birds called sooner after a catch in these foraging scenarios compared with when only single fish were encountered. Three call types were recorded, 'flat', 'modulated' and 'two‐voice' calls, but there was no significant relationship detected with these call types and behavioural modes for solitary birds and birds in groups. The results of this study show that acoustic signalling by African Penguins at sea is used in a variety of behavioural contexts and that increased calling activity in the presence of more profitable prey could be of crucial importance to seabirds that benefit from group foraging.

中文翻译：

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社会情境和猎物组成与潜水海鸟的呼唤行为有关

海鸟的社会凝聚力和猎物定位在很大程度上是通过视觉和嗅觉信号实现的，但是这些行为方面也可能通过信息的声音传递而得到增强。在这种情况下，呼叫行为可能会受到不同的社会生态刺激的影响。非洲企鹅蠢企鹅配备了动物摄录机，以确定海上发出的电话的频率和类型是否取决于行为方式（上下班，久坐和潜水）和社会地位（相对于群体）。对于觅食的潜水回合，我们评估了在有学校猎物与单鱼的情况下，鸣叫的时间和频率是否显着不同。对于白天早晚通勤的鸟类（单身鸟类）和在潜水比赛中（分组）的通电话事件的可能性要高得多。在觅食潜水回合中，在有求学鱼的情况下潜水的鸣叫频率明显更高，与仅遇到单条鱼类的情况相比，在这些觅食场景中被捕到的鸟被叫得更快。记录了三种通话类型：“固定”，“ 调制”和“两次语音”呼叫，但对于单独的鸟类和成群的​​鸟类，这些呼叫类型和行为模式之间没有发现明显的关系。这项研究的结果表明，非洲企鹅在海上发出的声音信号被用于各种行为环境中，在利润更高的猎物的存在下增加呼叫活动对于受益于群体觅食的海鸟至关重要。