Does novelty influence the foraging decisions of a scavenger?

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14310%2F24%3A00138548" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14310/24:00138548 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17121" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17121</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.17121" target="_blank" >10.7717/peerj.17121</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Does novelty influence the foraging decisions of a scavenger?

Original language description

Acquiring knowledge about the environment is crucial for survival. Animals, often driven by their exploratory tendencies, gather valuable information regarding food resources, shelter, mating partners, etc. However, neophobia, or avoiding novel environmental stimuli, can constrain their exploratory behaviour. While neophobia can reduce potential predation risks, decreased exploratory behaviour resulting from it may limit the ability to discover highly rewarding resources. Dogs (Canis familiaris) living in semi-urban and urban environments as free-ranging populations, although subject to various selection forces, typically have negligible predation pressure. These dogs are scavengers in human-dominated environments; thus, selection against objectneophobia can provide benefits when searching for novel food resources. Although captive pack-living dogs are known to be less neophobic than their closest living ancestors, wolves (Canis lupus), little is known about free-ranging dogs' behavioural responses to novel objects, particularly in foraging contexts. Using an object choice experiment, we tested 259 free-ranging dogs from two age classes, adult and juvenile, to investigate their object-neophobia in a scavenging context. We employed a betweensubject study design, providing dogs with a familiar and a potentially novel object, both baited with equal, hidden food items. Adult and juvenile dogs significantly inspected the novel object first compared to the familiar one, even when the hidden food item was partially visible. To validate these findings, we compared novel objects with different strengths of olfactory cues (baited vs. false-baited) and found that they were inspected comparably by adults and juveniles. No significant differences were found in the latencies to inspect the objects, suggesting that free-ranging dogs may still be cautious when exploring their environments. These results indicate that free-ranging dogs, evidently from an early ontogenetic phase, do not show object-neophobia, as demonstrated by their preference for novel over familiar food sources. We conclude that little to no constraint of neophobia on exploratory behaviour in semi-urban and urbandwelling animals can guide foraging decision-making processes, providing adaptive benefits.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10600 - Biological sciences

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

PeerJ

ISSN

2167-8359

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

12

Issue of the periodical within the volume

March

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

18

Pages from-to

„e17121“

UT code for WoS article

001196034300002

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85190553436