Noisy miners plan their foraging route when harvesting nectar, but not when harvesting invertebrate prey (original) (raw)

Abstract

Noisy miners (Australian honeyeaters) feed on both nectar and invertebrates. The distributions of these two food resources differ: nectar is a static, visually cued resource that depletes and replenishes in a predictable way while invertebrates are cryptic and mobile. If the cognitive mechanisms that underpin foraging have been adapted to increase foraging efficiency, we might predict the competing demands of nectar and invertebrate food sources to result in (at least) two sets of divergent mechanisms. Previous studies have provided strong evidence of two such cognitive systems. In the present study, wild-caught captive birds were allowed to forage through arrays of feeder containing either nectar (sucrose) or invertebrate (mealworm) prey. When foraging for nectar, birds made more search errors if they were unable to plan their foraging route, while search efficiency for invertebrate prey was not affected in this way. Moreover, birds were able to forage reasonably efficiently for bo...

Danielle Sulikowski hasn't uploaded this paper.

Let Danielle know you want this paper to be uploaded.

Ask for this paper to be uploaded.