Titel
Decision time modulates social foraging success in wild common ravens, Corvus corax
Abstract
Social foraging provides several benefits for individuals but also bears the potential costs of higher competition. In some species, such competition arises through kleptoparasit- ism, that is when an animal takes food which was caught or collected by a member of its social group. Except in the context of caching, few studies have investigated how in- dividuals avoid kleptoparasitism, which could be based on physical strength/dominance but also cognitive skills. Here, we investigated the foraging success of wild common ravens, Corvus corax, experiencing high levels of kleptoparasitism from conspecifics when snatching food from the daily feedings of captive wild boars in a game park in the Austrian Alps. Success in keeping the food depended mainly on the individuals’ age class and was positively correlated with the time to make a decision in whether to fly off with food or consume it on site. While the effect of age class suggests that dominant and/ or experienced individuals are better in avoiding kleptoparasitism, the effect of decision time indicates that individuals benefit from applying cognition to such decision-making, independently of age class. We discuss our findings in the context of the ecological and social intelligence hypotheses referring to the development of cognitive abilities. We conclude that investigating which factors underline kleptoparasitism avoidance is a promising scenario to test specific predictions derived from these hypotheses.
Stichwort
cognitionCorvus coraxdecision-makingkleptoparasitismscroungingsocial foraging
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1080476
Erschienen in
Titel
Ethology
Band
126
Ausgabe
4
Seitenanfang
413
Seitenende
422
Verlag
Wiley
Erscheinungsdatum
2019
Zugänglichkeit
Rechteangabe
© 2019 The Authors

Herunterladen

Universität Wien | Universitätsring 1 | 1010 Wien | T +43-1-4277-0