Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) behavior in a multi-destination route: Evidence for planning ahead when heuristics fail.

ABSTRACT: Animal paths are analogous to intractable mathematical problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and the shortest path problem (SPP). Both the TSP and SPP require an individual to find the shortest path through multiple targets but the TSP demands a return to the start, while the SPP does not. Vervet monkeys are very efficient in solving TSPs but this species is a multiple central place forager that does not always return to the same sleeping site and thus theoretically should be selected to find solutions to SPPs rather than TSPs. We examined path choice by wild vervets in an SPP experimental array where the shortest paths usually differed from those consistent with common heuristic strategies, the nearest-neighbor rule (NNR-go to the closest resource that has not been visited),

SUBMITTER: Teichroeb JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5973620 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature