California scrub-jays reduce visual cues available to potential pilferers by matching food colour to caching substrate
Kelley, LA; Clayton, NS
Date: 31 July 2017
Journal
Biology Letters
Publisher
The Royal Society
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Some animals hide food to consume later; however, these caches are susceptible to theft by conspecifics and heterospecifics. Caching animals can use
protective strategies to minimize sensory cues available to potential pilferers,
such as caching in shaded areas and in quiet substrate. Background matching (where object patterning ...
Some animals hide food to consume later; however, these caches are susceptible to theft by conspecifics and heterospecifics. Caching animals can use
protective strategies to minimize sensory cues available to potential pilferers,
such as caching in shaded areas and in quiet substrate. Background matching (where object patterning matches the visual background) is commonly
seen in prey animals to reduce conspicuousness, and caching animals
may also use this tactic to hide caches, for example, by hiding coloured
food in a similar coloured substrate. We tested whether California scrubjays (Aphelocoma californica) camouflage their food in this way by offering
them caching substrates that either matched or did not match the colour of
food available for caching. We also determined whether this caching behaviour was sensitive to social context by allowing the birds to cache when a
conspecific potential pilferer could be both heard and seen (acoustic and
visual cues present), or unseen (acoustic cues only). When caching events
could be both heard and seen by a potential pilferer, birds cached randomly
in matching and non-matching substrates. However, they preferentially hid
food in the substrate that matched the food colour when only acoustic
cues were present. This is a novel cache protection strategy that also appears
to be sensitive to social context. We conclude that studies of cache protection
strategies should consider the perceptual capabilities of the cacher and
potential pilferers.
Biosciences - old structure
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