Soldati Francesca, Burman Oliver H P, John Elizabeth A, Pike Thomas W, Wilkinson Anna
Department of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7DL, UK.
Directorate of Digital and Information Services, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX, UK.
Learn Behav. 2025 Sep 26. doi: 10.3758/s13420-025-00689-w.
Many plant populations are dependent on animal-mediated seed dispersal; however, in the study of mutualistic processes, animals are generally thought of as unselective consumers. This approach is problematic as it does not consider the decisions of the foraging animals, and little attention is given to the cognitive processes that underpin these behaviors. One such process is the ability to predict fruit availability, as this would allow animals to direct their foraging towards productive food sources and would ensure rapid seed removal when fruits are ready to be eaten. This is particularly important for species that cannot move rapidly between resources, such as tortoises. This study investigated temporal (24-h cycle) and visual cues use during food anticipation in captive red-footed tortoise (Chelonoidis carbonaria), an important seed disperser in its natural environment. A significant increase in activity was observed in the hour immediately preceding food delivery, suggesting that the tortoises learned to predict the availability of food. Test trials, in which the visual and temporal cues were put in conflict or removed, revealed that the tortoises used both sources of information to predict food availability. Moreover, extinction trials, in which the tortoises did not have reliable temporal or visual cues prior to feeding, resulted in a rapid loss of anticipatory behavior. These findings provide insights into the cognitive processes that control anticipatory foraging behavior and, as such, have important implications for both animal and plant fitness, furthering our knowledge of mutualistic services such as seed dispersal.
许多植物种群依赖动物介导的种子传播；然而，在互利共生过程的研究中，动物通常被视为不加选择的消费者。这种方法存在问题，因为它没有考虑觅食动物的决策，而且很少关注支撑这些行为的认知过程。其中一个过程是预测果实可获得性的能力，因为这将使动物能够将觅食方向指向高产的食物来源，并确保果实成熟可食用时种子能迅速被传播。这对于像乌龟这样无法在资源之间快速移动的物种尤为重要。本研究调查了圈养红腿陆龟（Chelonoidis carbonaria）在食物预期期间对时间（24小时周期）和视觉线索的利用情况，红腿陆龟在其自然环境中是重要的种子传播者。在喂食前一小时观察到活动显著增加，这表明乌龟学会了预测食物的可获得性。在视觉和时间线索相互冲突或被移除的测试试验中，发现乌龟利用这两种信息来源来预测食物的可获得性。此外，在灭绝试验中，乌龟在喂食前没有可靠的时间或视觉线索，导致预期行为迅速丧失。这些发现为控制预期觅食行为的认知过程提供了见解，因此对动物和植物的适应性都具有重要意义，增进了我们对种子传播等互利共生服务的了解。
