Innate ability of goats to sense and avoid ingestion of noxious insects while feeding.

ABSTRACT: Large mammalian herbivores regularly encounter noxious insects on their food plants. Recent evidence revealed that goats efficiently avoid insect ingestion while feeding, yet it is unknown whether this ability is innate. We experimentally examined the behavioural responses of naive goat kids to a common insect, the spring-webworm (Ocnogyna loewii). We filmed and analysed the kids' behaviour while feeding and compared it to the behaviour described in adults. Naive kids sorted the webworms apart from the food without ingesting them (all webworms survived). They exhibited behaviours similar to those displayed by adults, demonstrating an innate ability to avoid insect ingestion. The kids detected webworms using tactile stimulation, obtained by repeatedly touching the leaves with their m

SUBMITTER: Berman TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6408377 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature