The interplay between cognition and ecology in extractive foraging behaviours

Foraging successfully requires cognitive abilities across both ecological and social domains and is considered an important driver of enhanced cognitive skills. Extractive foraging – the extraction and processing of embedded or encased food like arthropods, nuts and eggs – requires intensive object-manipulation.  Animals have evolved both morphological (e.g. multi-purpose beak in parrots) and behavioural adaptations (e.g. tool use, dropping nuts) to access these otherwise inaccessible food items.  The cognitive processes and ecological significance of foraging with tools have been well studied, while extractive foraging without tools is understudied.

To fill this knowledge gap, we will investigate the ontogeny of these behaviours, the underlying cognitive mechanisms, individual differences and the ecological significance of extractive foraging without tools in two complementary systems: Sulphur-crested cockatoos in Australia, which use their specialised beaks to open a variety of hard-shelled seeds, and carrion and hooded crows in and around Vienna, which open walnuts by either pecking them open or dropping them onto hard surfaces so that they crack open. The aim of our work is to investigate how complex cognitive abilities evolve within and between species over evolutionary time and why species differ in their cognitive abilities and in their reliance on foraging by extraction.

Publications

Showing entries 1 - 20 out of 23
Chimento M, Dalmaijer E, Klump BC, Aplin LM. Temporal dynamics and policy implications in an innovation arms race. bioRxiv. 2025 Jun 10. Epub 2025 Jun 10. doi: 10.1101/2025.02.13.638049
Klump BC, Walter D, Martin JM, Aplin LM. Emergence of a novel drinking innovation in an urban population of sulphur-crested cockatoos, Cacatua galerita. Biology Letters. 2025 Jun 4;21(6). doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2025.0010
Klump B. Sexy tools: Individual differences in drumming tool shape. Learning & Behavior. 2024 Dec;52(4):287-288. doi: 10.3758/s13420-023-00620-1
Klump BC. Tool use promotes dental health: Using tools increases foraging success in sea otters and protects their teeth from damage. Science. 2024 May 16;384(6697):740-741. doi: 10.1126/science.adp4375
Smeele SQ, Tyndel SA, Klump BC, Alarcón-Nieto G, Aplin LM. callsync: An R package for alignment and analysis of multi-microphone animal recordings. Ecology and Evolution. 2024 May;14(5):e11384. doi: 10.1002/ece3.11384
Penndorf J, Ewart KM, Klump BC, Martin JM, Aplin LM. Social network analysis reveals context-dependent kin relationships in wild sulphur-crested cockatoos Cacatua galerita. Journal of Animal Ecology. 2023 Jan 4;92(1):171-182. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13839
Wild TA, Wikelski M, Tyndel S, Alarcón-Nieto G, Klump BC, Aplin LM et al. Internet on animals: Wi-Fi-enabled devices provide a solution for big data transmission in biologging. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 2023;14(1):87-102. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.13798
Bergler C, Smeele SQ, Tyndel SA, Barnhill A, Ortiz ST, Kalan AK et al. ANIMAL-SPOT enables animal-independent signal detection and classification using deep learning. Scientific Reports. 2022 Dec 19;12(1). doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-26429-y
Klump BC, Major RE, Farine DR, Martin JM, Aplin LM. Is bin-opening in cockatoos leading to an innovation arms race with humans? Current Biology. 2022 Sept 12;32(17):R910-R911. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.008
Jones NAR, Klump BC, Abaurrea TM, Harrower S, Marr C, Scott L et al. Short-range hunters: exploring the function and constraints of water shooting in dwarf gouramis. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2021 Dec 23;224(24):jeb243477. doi: 10.1242/jeb.243477
Klump BC, St Clair JJH, Rutz C. New Caledonian crows keep ‘valuable’ hooked tools safer than basic non-hooked tools. eLife. 2021 Dec 21;10:e64829. doi: 10.7554/eLife.64829
Klump BC, Martin JM, Wild S, Hörsch JK, Major RE, Aplin LM. Innovation and geographic spread of a complex foraging culture in an urban parrot. Science. 2021 Jul 23;373(6553):456-460. doi: 10.1126/science.abe7808
Steele MP, Neaves LE, Klump BC, St Clair JJH, Fernandes JRSM, Hequet V et al. DNA barcoding identifies cryptic animal tool materials. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021 Jul 21;118(29):e2020699118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2020699118
Klump BC. Of crows and tools. Science. 2019 Nov 22;366(6468):965A-965B. doi: 10.1126/science.aaz7775
Klump BC, Cantat M, Rutz C. Raw-material selectivity in hook-tool-crafting New Caledonian crows. Biology Letters. 2019 Feb 6;15(2):20180836. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0836
Klump BC, Masuda BM, Clair JJHS, Rutz C. Preliminary observations of tool-processing behaviour in Hawaiian crows Corvus hawaiiensis. Communicative Integrative Biology. 2018 Jul 4;11(4):e1509637. e1509637. doi: 10.1080/19420889.2018.1509637
St Clair JJH, Klump BC, Sugasawa S, Higgott CG, Colegrave N, Rutz C. Hook innovation boosts foraging efficiency in tool-using crows. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2018 Jan 22;2(3):441-444. doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0429-7
Sugasawa S, Klump BC, St Clair JJH, Rutz C. Causes and Consequences of Tool Shape Variation in New Caledonian Crows. Current Biology. 2017 Dec 18;27(24):3885-3890.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.11.028
Rutz C, Klump BC, Komarczyk L, Leighton R, Kramer J, Wischnewski S et al. Discovery of species-wide tool use in the Hawaiian crow. Nature. 2016 Sept 14;537(7620):403-407. doi: 10.1038/nature19103
Rutz C, Sugasawa S, van der Wal JEM, Klump BC, St Clair JJH. Tool bending in New Caledonian crows. Royal Society Open Science. 2016 Aug 10;3(8):160439. doi: 10.1098/rsos.160439
Showing entries 1 - 20 out of 23

Presentations

Conferences

  • 04/2024 - National Geographic Explorer Meet-up, online (speaker)
  • 02/2024 - Annual Meeting of the Ethologische Gesellschaft, Münster, Germany (plenary)
  • 08/2023 - European Ornithologists’ Union Conference, Lund, Sweden (invited talk)
  • 08/2023 - Behaviour Conference, Bielefeld, Germany (speaker)

Science to science

  • 03/2024 - Forschungsinstitut für Wildtierkunde und Ökologie, Austria (speaker)
  • 03/2024 - Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, Austria (speaker)
  • 04/2023 - University of Copenhagen, Denmark (speaker)

Science to public

  • 02/2024 - Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Austria (invited public lecture) 
  • 02/2024 - Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany (invited public lecture)
  • 11/2023 - Film & Talk – panel discussion about the new movie ‘Crows’
  • 09/2023 - Konrad Lorenz Research Station – Biologicum Almtal, Austria (invited talk)

Media

Funder: www.wwtf.at