Superb fairy-wrens picky when helping others in distress

A superb fairy-wren at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Photo: Olivia Congdon/ANU Superb fairy-wrens are more likely to take risks to help members of their close social circle, according to an international team of researchers including scientists from Monash University and The Australian National University (ANU). The authors found that wild superb fairy-wrens use similar rules to human hunter-gatherers when deciding how much help to offer another in need.  "Both species live in multilevel societies, starting with a core group of just a few closely connected individuals," lead author and PhD candidate at Monash University Ettore Camerlenghi said. "We found the wrens, like hunter-gatherers, have three distinct types of relations - those from the same breeding group, familiar individuals from the same community and unfamiliar birds from the wider population." The research team tested the birds' willingness to help others by broadcasting distress calls from individuals with different social relationships. "Distress calls are a cry for help when birds are attacked by a predator," study co-author Professor Robert Magrath, from the ANU Research School of Biology, said. "So broadcasting these calls allowed us to test how willing birds were to help others in need. "We found superb fairy-wrens are careful about who they aid.