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Experimental study of cognitive aspects of ambivalent foraging as exemplified by the great tit

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Abstract

A hypothesis of ambivalent foraging is proposed based on ideas about dual treating of the prey by a consumer: the food value attracts while the danger repulses. The foraging strategy of the great tit was investigated experimentally with the use of artificial “food patches” with variable amounts of dangerous prey (live red wood ants) and non-dangerous prey (fly larvae). With non-dangerous prey, the behavior of the birds corresponded to the known marginal value theorem: they proceeded with foraging until the resources were exhausted. We found the threshold amount of dangerous prey that prevents tits from hunting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia

    Zh. I. Reznikova, A. A. Maslov & S. N. Panteleeva

  2. Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russia

    Zh. I. Reznikova

Authors
  1. Zh. I. Reznikova
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  2. A. A. Maslov
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  3. S. N. Panteleeva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zh. I. Reznikova.

Additional information

Original Russian Text © Zh.I. Reznikova, A.A. Maslov, S.N. Panteleeva, 2015, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2015, Vol. 465, No. 2, pp. 255–257.

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Reznikova, Z.I., Maslov, A.A. & Panteleeva, S.N. Experimental study of cognitive aspects of ambivalent foraging as exemplified by the great tit. Dokl Biol Sci 465, 282–284 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0012496615060046

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0012496615060046

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