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sign stimulus oxford views updated Jun 08 2018

sign stimulus (releaser) The essential feature of a stimulus, which is necessary to elicit a response. For example, a red belly (characteristic of courting male sticklebacks) is the sign stimulus necessary to provoke an attack from a rival male; even a very crude model fish is attacked if it has a red undersurface. Similarly, territorial fighting in male robins is triggered by the sign stimulus of a red breast; a bunch of red feathers is enough to induce territorial behaviour. See also stimulus filtering. A Dictionary of Biology ×

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sign stimulus oxford views updated May 29 2018

sign stimulus (releaser) Part of a stimulus that is sufficient to evoke a behavioural response in an animal (e.g. the patch of red colour that provokes an aggressive reaction in Erithacus rubecula, the European robin). A Dictionary of Zoology MICHAEL ALLABY ×

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sign stimulus oxford views updated May 23 2018

sign stimulus(releaser) Part of a stimulus that is sufficient to evoke a behavioural response in an animal (e.g. the patch of red colour that provokes an aggressive reaction in Erithacus rubecula, the European robin). A Dictionary of Ecology MICHAEL ALLABY ×

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MICHAEL ALLABY "sign stimulus ." A Dictionary of Ecology. . Retrieved December 01, 2025 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/sign-stimulus

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