This paper examines changes in hunting ability across the lifespan for the Ache of eastern Paraguay. Hunting ability is decomposed into two components-finding prey and probability of kill upon encounter- and analyzed for important prey species. Results support the argument that skill acquisition is an important aspect of the human foraging niche with hunting outcome variables reaching peaks sur...

Mobile devices have become for many the preferred way of interacting with the Internet, social media and the enterprise. However, mobile devices still do not have the computing power and battery life that will allow them to perform effectively over long periods of time, or for executing applications that require extensive communication, computation, or low latency. Cyber-foraging is a technique...

Heterospecific communication signals sometimes convey relevant information for animal survival. For example, animals use or eavesdrop on heterospecific alarm calls concerning common predators. Indeed, most observations have been reported regarding anti-predator strategies. Use of heterospecific signals has rarely been observed as part of a foraging strategy. Here, I report empirical evidence, c...

We studied time budgets of precocial chicks of American Golden-Plovers (Pluvialis dominica) on the tundra near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, to assess how time budgets are influenced by environmental and body temperatures. Foraging time per day increased with increasing ambient temperatures and levels of solar radiation, as well as with age. This increase was due to an increase in the length of ...

Most competition studies between species are conducted from a population-level approach. Few studies have examined inter-specific competition in conjunction with intra-specific competition, with an individual-based approach. To our knowledge, none has been conducted on marine top predators. Sympatric Galapagos fur seals (Arctocephalus galapagoensis) and sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) share sim...

A fundamental study by Ens et al. (1992, Journal of Animal Ecology, 61, 703) developed the concept of two different nest-territory qualities in Eurasian oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus, L.), resulting in different reproductive successes. "Resident" oystercatchers use breeding territories close to the high-tide line and occupy adjacent foraging territories on mudflats. "Leapfrog" oystercat...

We develop a model to predict optimal diet selection when energy intake varies over consecutive foraging periods. The model assumes that fitness is maximized when the forager maximizes its net reproduction (survivorship x reproduction) over some specified time period. This goal differs from earlier risk-sensitive foraging models which assume that the forager minimizes the risk of failing to sat...

From 1997 to 1999, we characterized red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis) behavior in a loblolly (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf (P. echinata) pine forest in Mississippi. We recorded stem type and size class used, foraging location, height, first behavior type observed and cumulative behaviors during 5-hour visual observation periods of 41 red-cockaded woodpecker groups. Overall, 94% of all s...

The functional response is one of the most widely measured attributes of consumers. Phenomenalistic descriptions of how predator attack rates vary with prey density are fundamental components of consumer-resource models. The application of these functions typically assumes continuous foraging by individuals, along with stationarity in their behavioural and physiological processes. Yet most spec...

Many animal species segregate by sex. Such segregation may be social in nature, or ecological, or both. Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), like many large mammals, are sexually size dimorphic. In size dimorphic species, allometric differences in morphology, metabolic rate and reproductive costs are likely. Such differences may require the sexes to use different foraging strategies or different ha...