Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on September 19, 2008
Behavioral Ecology 2009 20(1):103-110; doi:10.1093/beheco/arn120
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The development of foraging microhabitat preferences in meerkats
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
Address correspondence to A. Thornton. E-mail: jant2{at}cam.ac.uk.
 |
Abstract |
|---|
Animals of many species tend to target their foraging attempts toward particular microhabitats within their habitat. Although these preferences are critical determinants of the foraging niche and have important ecological and evolutionary implications, we know little about how they develop. Here, we use detailed longitudinal data from meerkats (Suricata suricatta) to examine how individual learning and the use of social information affect the development of foraging microhabitat preferences. Despite living in an open, arid environment, adult meerkats frequently foraged at the base of vegetation. Young pups seldom did so, but their foraging microhabitat choices became increasingly adult-like as they grew older. Learning about profitable microhabitats may have been promoted in part by positive reinforcement from prey capture. Foraging may also have become increasingly targeted toward suitable locations as pups grew older because they spent more time searching before embarking on foraging bouts. The development of microhabitat preferences might also have been influenced by social cues. Foraging in close proximity to adults may increase the probability that pups would dig in similar microhabitats. Also, pups often dug in holes created by older individuals, whereas adults never dug in existing holes. Foraging in existing holes was no more profitable to pups than creating their own foraging hole but could provide pups with important informational benefits. The integration of personal and social information is likely to be a common feature in the development of the foraging niche in generalist species.
Key words: development, foraging, learning, meerkats, social information, Suricata suricatta.
S.J. Hodge is now at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK.
Received 8 May 2008; revised 14 August 2008; accepted 15 August 2008.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A. Thornton and A. Malapert The rise and fall of an arbitrary tradition: an experiment with wild meerkats Proc R Soc B, April 7, 2009; 276(1660): 1269 - 1276. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|