In this context, pack size is key to defending themselves and their food. They also live alongside lions, which are a major cause of African wild dog mortality. The dogs are also said to be on an an energetic knife-edge due to the impacts of losing their kills to spotted hyenas in some areas. Successful hunters can thus find themselves away from the rest of the pack on a kill leaving them exposed to their competitors. Packs are highly cohesive and begin hunting together but it is common for one or a few dogs to become separated during the chase. In this context, it's probably much more efficient to allow the pups to feed themselves than to eat and regurgitate for them.Īdditionally, this unusual system may also protect African wild dogs from their competitors. While young pups still at the den are fed regurgitated meat, older pups tagging along on hunting trips are allowed to feed directly. It is possible that allowing pack-mates uncontested access to food they have not caught themselves may be an extension of other helping behavior, prioritizing those least able to catch food themselves. This made us wonder why an African wild dog's breakfast look so different, and what are the implications for this endangered pack-living animal? In fact, it has previously only been anecdotally described in African and Asiatic wild dogs. This age-based system of food-sharing is extremely unusual in animal societies. Access then cascades through the pack in increasing age order, with older dogs having least access to carcasses. When packs arrive at a kill that one or more of their pack-mates have made, the pups are immediately given access to the spoils, while others fall back.Īfter the pups have had their fill, next in line are the dominant pair. Quantifying these feeding patterns is key to understanding the origin and implications of many aspects of animal social lives, and for African wild dogs the results were intriguing.įirst we confirmed the presence and basic structure of the feeding queue confirming that the youngest feed first and are given uncontested access to kills they did not catch themselves. Much is known about the costs and benefits of hunting from the pack perspective but individual feeding patterns and their consequences are not well understood. African wild dog packs revolve around a dominant pair and their offspring that remain in their pack and support their parents in rearing subsequent litters. We set out to fill some of this knowledge gap by recording social aspects of feeding behavior in endangered African wild dogs in Botswana. Despite its importance in shaping social systems, food-sharing by animals that hunt in groups is not well understood. From the "finders keepers" approach of Tasmanian devils on small carcasses, to female bonobos trading food for sex, animals acquire and distribute food in various ways, with diverse social consequences.
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