Implications for territorial signals
Territory signals should be designed to:
- Primarily display value placed on territory ownership (motivation to fight)
- Secondarily display fighting ability
- Be individually distinctive
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Example: Territorial defense calls in cricket frogs
- Frequency of initial call by territory owners correlated with body size
- Subsequent responses to intruders lower in frequency
- Drop in frequency correlated with likelihood of attack
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- Calls contain information on both fighting ability and of motivation to fight