It is critical for prey to recognise predators and distinguish predators from non-threatening species. Yet, we have little understanding of how prey develop effective predator recognition templates. Recent studies suggest that prey may actually learn key predator features which can be used to recognise novel species with similar characteristics. However, non-predators are sometimes mislabelled as predators when generalising recognition. Here, we conduct the first comprehensive investigation of how prey integrate information on predator odours and predator diet cues in generalisation, allowing them to discriminate between predators and non-predators. We taught lemon damselfish to recognise a predator fed a fish diet, and tested them for their response to the known predator and a series of novel predators (fed fish diet) and non-predators (fed squid diet) distributed across a phylogenetic gradient. Our findings show that damselfish distinguish between predators and non-predators when generalising recognition. Additional experiments revealed that generalised recognition did not result from recognition of predator odours or diet cues, but that damselfish based recognition on what they learned during the initial conditioning. Incorporating multiple sources of information enables prey to develop highly plastic and accurate recognition templates that will increase survival in patchy environments where they have little prior knowledge.

中文翻译：

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学会区分食肉动物和非食肉动物：了解饮食线索和食肉气味在概括中的关键作用。

对于捕食者而言，识别捕食者并将捕食者与非威胁物种区分开来至关重要。但是，我们对猎物如何开发有效的捕食者识别模板知之甚少。最近的研究表明，猎物实际上可以学习关键的捕食者特征，这些特征可以用来识别具有相似特征的新物种。但是，在概括识别时，非掠夺者有时会被误贴为掠夺者。在这里，我们对捕食者如何综合地综合捕食者气味和捕食者饮食线索的信息进行了首次综合研究，从而使它们能够区分捕食者和非捕食者。我们教柠檬雀鲷认识到以鱼为食的捕食者，并测试了它们对已知的捕食者以及在整个系统发育梯度中分布的一系列新型捕食者（喂食鱼类饮食）和非捕食者（喂食鱿鱼饮食）的反应。我们的研究结果表明，在概括识别时，雀鲷区分了捕食者和非捕食者。额外的实验表明，普遍的认知并不是由于捕食者的气味或饮食暗示而引起的，而是基于他们在初始条件下学到的知识的自私自利的认识。整合多种信息源使猎物能够开发出高度可塑性和精确的识别模板，从而提高了他们在鲜为人知的斑驳环境中的生存率。我们的研究结果表明，在概括识别时，雀鲷区分了捕食者和非捕食者。额外的实验表明，普遍的认知并不是由于捕食者的气味或饮食暗示而引起的，而是基于他们在初始条件下学到的东西而自以为是的自私自利的认识。整合多种信息源使猎物能够开发出高度可塑性和精确的识别模板，从而提高了他们在鲜为人知的斑驳环境中的生存率。我们的研究结果表明，在概括识别时，雀鲷区分了捕食者和非捕食者。额外的实验表明，普遍的认知并不是由于捕食者的气味或饮食暗示而引起的，而是基于他们在初始条件下学到的东西而自以为是的自私自利的认识。整合多种信息源使猎物能够开发出高度可塑性和精确的识别模板，从而提高了他们在鲜为人知的斑驳环境中的生存率。