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Birds plan for the future mongabay.com February 21, 2007
Writing in the current edition of the journal Nature, scientists at Cambridge University found that western scrub-jays plan for future food shortages by storing food. Unlike squirrels and other animals that store foods during lean times as a matter of habit, the researchers show that the birds actually learn from their previous experiences of food scarcity, saving food for future consumption when they anticipate future periods of famine.
Clayton, along with co-author and colleague Tom Dickinson, believe this is the first known example of future planning in animals. Their conclusions are based on a series experiments, two of which are described in a new release from Cambridge.
Another experiment showed that the birds were able to plan ahead to provide themselves with a more varied diet. The jays were consistently given a breakfast of peanuts in one compartment and dog kibble in the other. When the birds in the evening were offered both foods, they preferred to cache peanuts in the kibble compartment and vice versa -- to make sure they had an interesting breakfast the following morning. Comments? News options
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