Does Liolaemus lemniscatus eavesdrop on the distress calls of the sympatric weeping lizard?

Abstract

For a prey, its best ticket to stay alive is to get early and accurate information on predation risk and so, escape from predation at low cost. Some prey species have evolved the ability to eavesdrop signals intended for others, which contain information on predation risk. This is the case for the vocalizations produced by prey species when interacting with predators. Although primarily studied in birds and mammals, eavesdropping on vocal signals has been recorded in some lizard species. Here, we explored whether the lizardLiolaemus lemniscatuseavesdrops on the distress calls of its sympatric species, the Weeping lizard (L. chiliensis). Individuals of the Weeping lizard respond to these calls by displaying antipredator behaviours (i.e., reduced movement), and individuals ofL. lemniscatusmay potentially display similar defences if they decode the information contained in these calls. Our playback experiments showed that individuals ofL. lemniscatusresponded to the sound stimuli (distress calls and white noise), reducing their activity, but they did not discriminate between these two stimuli, suggesting thatL. lemniscatusdoes not eavesdrop on the distress calls of its sympatric lizard species. We discuss some hypotheses to explain the lack of eavesdropping byL. lemniscatuson the Weeping lizard distress calls.