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Cooperative Foraging

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 68 Accesses

Synonyms

By-product mutualism

Definition

The process through which two or more individuals benefit from working together to obtain food resources.

Introduction

Many species benefit from working together, in some form, for the purpose of locating and consuming food. Animals, from insects like the honeybee (Apis spp.) to carnivores such as the gray wolf (Canis lupus) and orca (Orcinus orca), benefit from not only foraging socially but cooperatively. This cooperation has been suggested to be one of the key drivers of evolution, sparking unique cognitive abilities (Wilson 2000).

Cooperative foraging, or by-product mutualism (Connor 1986), distinguishes itself from other social foraging styles (e.g., imitative foraging) in that it occurs when individuals are able to distinguish between group members and engage in altruistic self-restraint and complex communication. These abilities allow group members to coordinate behaviors to achieve a common goal, thus increasing individual foraging...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, 10801 Dolphin Lane, 39503, Gulfport, MS, USA

    Mystera M. Samuelson

Authors
  1. Mystera M. Samuelson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mystera M. Samuelson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA

    Catherine Salmon

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Samuelson, M.M. (2016). Cooperative Foraging. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3056-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3056-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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