Data from: Attacked ravens flexibly adjust signalling behaviour according to audience composition

A fundamental attribute of social intelligence is the ability to monitor third party relationships, which has been repeatedly demonstrated in primates, and recently also in captive ravens. It is yet unknown how ravens make use of this ability when dealing with different types of social relationships simultaneously during complex real-life situations. Free-ranging non-breeder ravens live in societies characterized by high fission-fusion dynamics and structured by age, pair-bond status, and kinship. Here, we show that free-ranging ravens modify communication during conflicts according to audience composition. When being attacked by dominant conspecifics, victims of aggression signal their distress via defensive calls. Victims increased call rates when their kin were in the bystander audience, but reduced call rates when the bystanders were bonding partners of their aggressors. Hence, ravens utilize social knowledge flexibly and likely based on their own need, i.e. alert nearby allies, and avoid alerting nearby rivals.社会智能的一项核心属性，是对第三方社会关系进行监测的能力，该能力已在灵长类动物中得到反复验证，近期在圈养渡鸦中也获得了证实。然而目前尚不清楚，在复杂的真实场景中同时应对多种类型社会关系时，渡鸦是如何运用这一监测能力的。自由栖息的非繁殖渡鸦栖息于具有高度裂合融合动态的社群中，该社群的结构由年龄、配对伴侣状态以及亲缘关系共同塑造。本研究表明，自由栖息的渡鸦会根据旁观者组成，在冲突过程中调整自身的通讯行为。当受到优势同种个体攻击时，受攻击者会通过防御叫声传递自身的窘迫信号。当旁观者为受攻击者的亲属时，其叫声频率会升高；而当旁观者为攻击者的配对伴侣时，其叫声频率则会降低。由此可见，渡鸦能够灵活运用社会认知知识，且大概率是基于自身需求：一方面向附近的盟友发出警示，另一方面避免惊动附近的竞争对手。