Experimental evidence of memory-based foraging decisions in a large wild mammal.

ABSTRACT: Many animals restrict their movements to a characteristic home range. This constrained pattern of space use is thought to result from the foraging benefits of memorizing the locations and quality of heterogeneously distributed resources. However, due to the confounding effects of sensory perception, the role of memory in home-range movement behavior lacks definitive evidence in the wild. Here, we analyze the foraging decisions of a large mammal during a field resource manipulation experiment designed to disentangle the effects of memory and perception. We parametrize a mechanistic model of spatial transitions using experimental data to quantify the cognitive processes underlying animal foraging behavior and to predict how individuals respond to resource heterogeneity in space and time. We

SUBMITTER: Ranc N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8053919 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature