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.
Outputs
Publikationen
- Klump, BC 2023. Sexy tools: Individual differences in drumming tool shape. Learning and Behavior doi.org/10.3758/s13420-023-00620-1
Konferenzbeiträge
- 02/2024 – Annual Meeting of the Ethologische Gesellschaft, Münster, Germany (plenary)
- 08/2023 - European Ornithologists’ Union Conference, Lund, SE (invited talk)
- 08/2023 - Behaviour Conference, Bielefeld, DE
Public Engagement
- 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 (invited talk)
Medienberichte
- 11/2023 – Deutschlandfunk Kultur – Radio Interview (https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/dokfilm-im-kino-beobachten-kraehen-uns-menschen-dlf-kultur-7c0b5ba8-100.html)
- 10/2023 - Austrian radio show ‘Good morning Austria’
- 09/2023 - Kurier – Wien will’s wissen (https://kurier.at/wien-wills-wissen/frei-wie-ein-vogel-im-denken/402615672)
- 08/2023 - TV interview Puls4, Austria
