A University of Alberta psychology team is part of the largest-ever study on neophobia, or the fear of novelty, in birds.
Published in PLOS Biology — involving 129 collaborators from 82 institutions in 24 countries — the paper includes the contributions of five researchers from the Faculty of Science led by Lauren Guillette, who submitted their data on the fear of the unfamiliar in zebra finches.
“This shows what can be accomplished when laboratories and teams across the world work together,” says Guillette. “General evolutionary trends can only be examined when lots of species, from different ecologies and with different levels of relatedness, are examined together.”
Fear of the unfamiliar is useful for survival among animals because it protects them from dangerous poisons and predators, note the study’s authors. But it can also limit the ability of birds to adapt to new nesting sites, foods or changes in the environment. Those with lower neophobia may be more flexible or resilient to disruptions brought about by climate change.
More than 1,400 birds in 136 species were tested, with grebes and flamingos exhibiting the highest neophobia and falcons and pheasants showing the least. Zebra finches fall towards the less neophobic end of the spectrum, says Guillette.