Beaked whales and state-dependent decision-making: how does body condition affect the trade-off between foraging and predator avoidance?

ABSTRACT: Body condition is central to how animals balance foraging with predator avoidance-a trade-off that fundamentally affects animal fitness. Animals in poor condition may accept greater predation risk to satisfy current foraging 'needs', while those in good condition may be more risk averse to protect future 'assets'. These state-dependent behavioural predictions can help interpret responses to human activities, but are little explored in marine animals. This study investigates the influence of body condition on how beaked whales trade-off foraging and predator avoidance. Body density (indicating lipid-energy stores) was estimated for 15 foraging northern bottlenose whales tagged near Jan Mayen, Norway. Composite indices of foraging (diving and echolocation clicks) and anti-predation (long asc

SUBMITTER: Siegal E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8790365 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature