The Trigger Features of the Territorial Defense Tape

The most interesting thing about all this is the way the tapes are activated when a male animal acts to defend his territory. The experiments of ithologists have shown, for instance, that a male robin will vigorously attack nothing more than a clump of redbreast feathers placed there. Similar results have been found in another species of bird, the blue throat where it appears that the trigger for territorial defence is a specific shade of blue breast feathers. This parallel form of human automatic action is aptly demonstrated in an experiment by Harvard social psychologist ellen langer.