Grey seals use anthropogenic signals from acoustic tags to locate fish: evidence from a simulated foraging task.

ABSTRACT: Anthropogenic noise can have negative effects on animal behaviour and physiology. However, noise is often introduced systematically and potentially provides information for navigation or prey detection. Here, we show that grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) learn to use sounds from acoustic fish tags as an indicator of food location. In 20 randomized trials each, 10 grey seals individually explored 20 foraging boxes, with one box containing a tagged fish, one containing an untagged fish and all other boxes being empty. The tagged box was found after significantly fewer non-tag box visits across trials, and seals revisited boxes containing the tag more often than any other box. The time and number of boxes needed to find both fish decreased significantly throughout consecutive trials. Two addit

SUBMITTER: Stansbury AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4262164 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature