Begging in animals

Generally in food solicitation, begging behavior is instinctive, although in some instances it is learned (e.g. pet cats and dogs).

Various types of information such as nutritional status or immunocompetence can be transmitted with auditory and visual begging signals and the behavior can be modulated by several factors such as brood size and hormones.

[1][2] Using models varying in different characteristics, they tested multiple stimuli and found that gull chicks pecked most at a long, red bill with contrasting white bars at the end.

These studies showed the chicks were responding to the red spot stimulus on their parents' bills, an example of imprinting.

[5] A second model is that begging intensity reflects the true condition or need of the individual and that the cost of the signal imposes honesty.

[6] A third model predicts that animals respond to the overall signal of the entire brood and that the siblings cooperate to gain the most food.

Parents respond to the total solicitation emerging from the nest; therefore, the probability of getting food increases with the number of chicks begging together.

[11] African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) show a ritualised form of begging behaviour which apparently functions as communication of social stability rather than soliciting food.

Other signs of submission or appeasement include exposing the throat and food-begging, or licking the corners of the dominant dog's mouth.

[12] Domestic animals, particularly cats and dogs, will often solicit non-food-related resources from humans such as the opportunity for exercise, play, or, grooming.

Perhaps surprisingly, the cuckoos do not vary their begging call note structure to match that of their hosts' chicks.

The mouths of canary nestlings are relatively unusual in that, following the onset of each begging bout, they exhibit a rapid change in color intensity.

[8] When the brood is very hungry, begging becomes a form of scramble competition whereby offspring jostle to be closest to the feeding adult.

When the brood has recently been fed, adults instead actively choose offspring to feed because begging reliably signals nestling hunger.

[24] Begging behavior in some penguins is unusual among birds in that under some circumstances, it involves the chick chasing the parent.

[25] Young mammals often demand resources from their parents by screaming, bleating or crying, and sometimes by direct tussling.

Females give birth in synchrony, producing large communal litters which remain in dens for 3–4 weeks.

During a foraging session, pups follow escorts closely (usually within 10 cm), begging constantly with a high-pitched, bird-like chirp (average call rate = 34.4 calls/min).

The mother visits the nursery, sometimes on a daily basis,[30] for the 43–52 days that the young remain in the tadpole stage.

[32] It has been reported that when the strawberry poison dart frog females visit their pools, she lowers her vent into the water whereupon the tadpole moves against her, stiffens, and vibrates.

In this swaying behavior, larvae raise their head and neck, and gently reach and wave towards workers or food items.

Elevated levels of nestling testosterone are correlated with more intense begging displays in canaries, slender-billed prions (Pachyptila belcheri) and European pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca).

Maternal testosterone levels deposited into egg yolks have been found to affect the hierarchy of begging chicks.

Elevated juvenile hormone levels have a negative effect on larval growth regardless of whether larvae forage by begging or by self-feeding.

In a study on passerine birds, it was found that chicks begged more loudly in species with higher levels of extra-pair paternity.

The "sibling negotiation hypothesis" proposes that offspring use each other's begging vocalization as a source of information about their relative willingness to contest the next prey item delivered.

Thus, when parents are not at the nest, a nestling vocally refrains when the value of the next delivered prey item will be higher for its nest-mates.

[41] Captive wild animals held in zoos or wildlife parks will often perform begging behavior directed to gaining food from caretaker staff and members of the public visiting the enclosure.

Several species of animals are trained by humans to perform begging behavior to earn money or food.

[44] Bottlenose dolphins beg for food from fishermen who feed them illegally in Cockburn Sound, Perth, Western Australia.