Benefits of Group Foraging Depend on Prey Type in a Small Marine Predator, the Little Penguin.

ABSTRACT: Group foraging provides predators with advantages in over-powering prey larger than themselves or in aggregating small prey for efficient exploitation. For group-living predatory species, cooperative hunting strategies provide inclusive fitness benefits. However, for colonial-breeding predators, the benefit pay-offs of group foraging are less clear due to the potential for intra-specific competition. We used animal-borne cameras to determine the prey types, hunting strategies, and success of little penguins (Eudyptula minor), a small, colonial breeding air-breathing marine predator that has recently been shown to display extensive at-sea foraging associations with conspecifics. Regardless of prey type, little penguins had a higher probability of associating with conspecifics when hunting p

SUBMITTER: Sutton GJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4682954 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature