Articles tagged with Foraging Behavior
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Researchers tracked female elephant seals' diving habits and found they spent 20-24 hours a day foraging to gain body fat stores. This unique adaptation may also make them vulnerable to changes in ocean temperatures and prey availability as a result of climate change.
Using satellite data, researchers identified suitable foraging habitats and found areas of low resource availability that were rarely used by Aboriginal peoples. The study provides new information on the complex socioeconomic strategies employed by the indigenous population to adapt to environmental challenges.
Researchers found that army ant mass raids originated from group raiding behavior in smaller colonies, with a massive increase in colony size correlating to the evolution of mass raids. The study uses custom computer vision software to track individual ants and analyze their behavior.
Immature female and male orangutans direct their social attention to different types of individuals, acquiring sex-specific ecological knowledge. Females focus on local knowledge and skills, while males prefer immigrants with relevant ecological skills.
Elephant seals spend 80% of their day foraging for fish, feeding between 1,000 and 2,000 times per day. Their unique foraging strategy can help monitor the health of the mesopelagic zone, a critical ecosystem expected to undergo substantial changes by the end of the century.
Researchers found that larger, more experienced bumblebees begin foraging at dawn despite poor visibility. This suggests that knowledge of food locations helps them navigate safely, and they can capitalize on the benefits of extra foraging time during early morning.
In Denmark, researchers found that farmed honey bees and endangered wild bees compete for limited forage resources. The study provides insights to guide conservation efforts by identifying key forage plant species.
A five-year study reveals that only deer migrating long distances and matching peak green-up timing successfully synchronize birth with forage availability. Conversely, shorter-distance migrants gave birth earlier, out of sync with green-up.
Researchers studied 71 elephant seals' daily routines, finding they prioritize low-risk rest at night as they gain body fat. Seals with more fat prefer darker waters for safety over energy conservation, and adjust bedtime based on daylight hours.
A new study reveals how female elephant seals shift their activity patterns as their body condition improves during a 7-month foraging migration. As they regain weight, the seals prioritize safety over feeding, with rest dives occurring progressively earlier and in shallower waters.
Researchers tracked breeding gannets for 11 years, finding that females travel up to 260km to find food, while males average 220km. The study highlights the importance of long-term studies and suggests differences in diet between sexes may be due to subtle taste preferences.
Studies on non-human species reveal that forager ants, vampire bats, mandrills, and others exhibit social distancing behaviors when infected. These observations provide valuable lessons on how to reduce disease transmission and offer a unique perspective on human behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A study by researchers at the University of Sussex found that bumble bees dominate on certain flower species due to their energy efficiency, while honey bees thrive on others. The study analyzed the behavior of over 1000 bees and found that a bee's bodyweight and rate of visiting flowers determine its energy efficiency.
A new study reveals that human hunter-gatherer populations share common behavioral traits with their non-human neighbors, including diet composition, child-care duties, and community organization. The findings support the idea that environmental pressures shape behaviors across species.
Research reveals that environmental factors influence human behavior in ways comparable to those of non-human species, including mammal and bird populations. Foraging patterns, reproductive habits, and social interactions show remarkable similarities across species and locations.
Researchers mapped the distribution of territories of two warbler species in a human-made landscape with patches of natural forests and pastures. The study found that both species co-occurred without direct competitive interactions, as they foraged in different habitats and locations.
Researchers analyzed gene expression in the brains of thousands of individual honey bees to find consistent differences between foragers and egg-layers. The study identified 15 transcription factors that explained behavioral differences, suggesting changes in these genes can lead to strikingly different behavior.
A team of researchers has developed a low-cost system to monitor bee species in the UK using retroreflective vests. The system uses real-time tracking technology to record the foraging behaviour and 3D flight path of various bees, providing valuable insights into their ecology.
Native to the US, tepary beans are drought-heat tolerant and require less water than common bean crops. They can be used as forage or cover crops, adding atmospheric nitrogen to soil and improving food security.
The electronic amoeba, an analog computer inspired by a single-celled organism, has been developed to find approximate solutions to the traveling salesman problem in linear time. The device uses resistance values to represent constraints and requests, allowing for efficient and dynamic optimization.
Marine scientists have mapped previously unknown foraging grounds and migratory routes of Western Australia's green turtles to support conservation. The study tracked 20 female turtles with satellites, combining their data with previous studies to identify key areas.
Baikal seals have evolved to consume an abundance of amphipods due to their specialized teeth and foraging strategy. This study reveals the seals' high foraging rates make tiny endemic amphipods a profitable component of their diet.
Researchers found that solitary red mason bee females emerge with a mature circadian clock, allowing them to forage and care for offspring daily. In contrast, social honeybees have a delayed maturation of their internal clock, explaining their age-related behavioral shifts.
A study by the University of Bristol found that urban gulls adjust their foraging patterns to coincide with human activity, such as school breaks and waste centre opening hours. This adaptability helps them thrive in cities by maximizing energy intake from fluctuating food sources.
A new machine learning algorithm has been developed to isolate dynamic neural patterns in brain signals that relate to specific behaviors, such as finger movements. The algorithm resolves the challenge of isolating these patterns, which can be masked by other activities, and enhances the decoding of behaviors from brain signals.
Osaka University researchers developed an innovative AI-assisted video camera system that improves the detection of specific target behaviors in seabirds. The new system, combined with machine learning techniques, increased detection accuracy by up to 15-fold and reduced runtime limitations.
Two Australian bee species have been identified as having adapted their vision for night-time conditions, allowing them to forage in darkness. The study found that these bees develop enlarged compound and simple eyes, enabling them to gather more light than their daytime counterparts.
A recent study by Louisiana State University researchers found that the Amazon rainforest is experiencing a decline in biodiversity, with certain bird species showing significant drops in population. The study, which analyzed data from over 35 years and 55 sites, suggests that climate change may be driving this trend.
Researchers found evidence that fringe-lipped bats eat other bats and hummingbirds, challenging previous assumptions about their foraging behavior. The study used DNA analysis to understand the bats' diets and behavioral experiments to confirm these findings.
Researchers have discovered a unique type of silk produced by the Australian basket-web spider, which is rigid and robust. The study suggests that this silk could be used to create a new genetic material with potential applications.
A study examining the impact of human activity on carnivore niches found that more than a quarter of average carnivore diets consist of human food. Human disturbance leads to significant dietary changes, increasing trophic niche overlap and conflict among species.
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba and ETH Zurich found that marine bacteria switch between lifestyles to get the best resources, optimizing nutrient uptake in seascapes of organic particles. Bacteria spend more time on higher-quality patches, fine-tuning their foraging strategy according to patch quality.
A team of scientists found that rats in groups outperform solo individuals by following simple behavioral rules, such as exploring uncharted paths but following others. The study reveals the optimal balance between individual and collective search performances, with extremes resulting in lower performance for the group and its members.
A study by Oregon State University found that marbled murrelets are at risk of local extinctions due to changing ocean conditions and loss of old forest habitats. The bird's long-distance nesting commute and reliance on forage fish make it vulnerable to habitat fluctuations.
Researchers found that scent-trained honeybees visited sunflowers more often and brought back more pollen, resulting in a 29-57% increase in seed production. This approach could improve pollination efficiency for crops like almonds, pears, and apples.
Chimpanzees exhibit diverse behaviours across various contexts, including tool use, foraging on insects and honey, and thermoregulatory habits. Environmental variability is positively associated with behavioural and cultural diversity, suggesting that species adapt to uncertainty through mechanisms like innovation and cognitive capacity.
A cross-continental team of researchers found that deer migration patterns are influenced by the progression of springtime plant growth, with slow and long green-ups correlating to resident strategies. The study suggests that conservation efforts should be tailored to local patterns of forage availability.
Researchers tracked changes in loggerhead sea turtle behavior before and after Hurricane Irene passed through the Mid-Atlantic Bight. The study found that turtles reacted to environmental changes, including cooler surface temperatures and disrupted thermocline layers, which influenced their movements and dive behavior.
Researchers discovered that zebrafish use social interactions to achieve near-optimal foraging efficiency and promote equality among group members. The study found that the animals adapt to group size but not food distribution, resulting in a robust foraging strategy.
In the African Serengeti, lion presence leads to mixed-species grazing groups, where species congregate to minimize predation risk. These groups are more likely to form in areas with high predator stress, such as woodland habitats and near rocky outcroppings.
The study revealed the Mediterranean sperm whale's widespread presence in the north-western Mediterranean Sea and identified a possible hotspot for habitat in the Gulf of Lion. Continuous day and night monitoring during winter months suggests different foraging strategies between areas.
The study found that spider monkeys use a collective computation approach to determine team sizes for foraging, taking into account the opinions of their group mates. The collective effects produce a range of team sizes that work well given the availability of fruiting trees in their forest.
Researchers tracked green sea turtles migrating long distances in the Indian Ocean to small oceanic islands, revealing that they can redirect in the open ocean at a crude level. The study provides evidence of a map sense with open ocean reorientation, allowing turtles to fine-tune their navigation.
Researchers found that sorghum performed better under drought conditions, producing more biomass with less water. Mixed with supplements, sorghum can achieve desirable feed quality and increase profitability without sacrificing nutrition.
Researchers used ATLAS to track Egyptian fruit bats and found they use a cognitive map to navigate their environment, remembering locations of food sources and roosting caves. This study provides the most comprehensive evidence for a cognitive map in any wild animal.
An experiment by PLOS found that adding a second entrance to an ant's nest reduces their ability to find and distinguish between food sources of varying value. This reduction in efficiency occurs due to increased competition among the ants, leading to decreased overall foraging success.
A new study reveals that dolphins can learn foraging techniques outside the mother-calf bond, showcasing horizontal social transmission. This innovation is similar to observed behaviors in great apes and highlights dolphins' capacity for behavioral adaptation.
A study published in Current Biology found that dolphins can learn new foraging skills by observing and imitating their peers, not just their mothers. The researchers identified over 1,000 individual dolphins performing the behavior, which spreads primarily within social networks.
Dolphins use complex techniques like 'shelling' to obtain food, a behavior comparable to tool use in humans. A study revealed that dolphins learn new foraging methods mainly through social transmission among peers, similar to great apes and gorillas. This discovery expands our understanding of how dolphins adapt to changing environment...
During an unusually ice-free season, Adélie penguins in East Antarctica covered more ground while swimming for prey, resulting in shorter dives and increased foraging success. This led to faster chick growth and increased body mass in adult males and females.
A recent study by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientists found that search-phase echolocation calls contain information about a bat's identity, allowing them to distinguish between group members. This discovery could mean these calls serve a double function: aiding prey detection and conveying individual identities.
Researchers found that betta fish opponents undergo similar brain changes that become more synchronized after longer fights. The study suggests that even in aggressive behavior like fighting, brains may cooperate at the molecular level.
Wild hummingbirds can distinguish between pure components of ultraviolet+red and individual colors, suggesting a more complex color vision system than previously thought. The study found approximately 30% of plumage colors and 35% of plant colors are nonspectral colors for these birds.
A new University of Wyoming study reveals that drought reduces the availability of key food resources by shortening the duration of spring green-up, altering the progression of the "green wave" across the landscape. As a result, the benefits of migration for mule deer and other migratory herbivores are likely to decrease.
A study led by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology found that ancient DNA documents population changes across eastern and southern Africa from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Genomic analysis revealed complex interactions between hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, and farmers, with varying integration of diverse ancestries.
Researchers found that pinker flamingos are more aggressive when competing for food in confined spaces. In contrast, birds fed outdoors with space to roam spend less time displaying aggression and double their foraging time.
Research by the University of Bristol found that certain fish perform better in disordered groups due to their increased alertness and ability to detect food sources. This challenges the traditional view of orderly group behavior as always beneficial for foraging, highlighting individual diversity as a key factor.
Researchers found tepary bean offers rapid forage yields with a higher leaf-to-stem ratio, outperforming guar and soybean. Tepary bean is suggested as an alternate to soybean for producers, but further research is needed on its management strategies.
Researchers found that ants tend to avoid parts of impediments that slow them down, similar to how light rays take time-reducing paths. The study used lens-shaped impediments and observed that ants diverged from the center on convex lenses and converged on concave lenses.
Researchers at Mississippi State University have successfully bred heat-tolerant annual ryegrass using recurrent phenotypic selection. The new germplasm can germinate and survive under high temperature stress conditions, allowing for late summer or early fall planting in the Southeast, increasing grazing days in winter and spring.