{"title":"Who gets the treat: Interspecific interactions between red squirrels and corvids in an urban park","authors":"Agata Beliniak, Dagny Krauze-Gryz","doi":"10.1007/s10211-023-00432-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Squirrels and some corvids have successfully adapted to urban conditions. Their populations are often more abundant in city parks than in rural areas. These species may compete, especially in terms of food resources. We studied interactions between corvids (hooded crows and rooks) and red squirrels inhabiting urban park, mostly in relation to supplementary food utilisation in Poland. The study included the following: (a) feeding trials, when squirrels were offered hazelnuts and all stealing attempts by other animals were noted; (b) direct observations of groups of animals (at least one squirrel and one corvid species) with all behaviours being recorded. During the feeding trial, and with constant corvid presence, corvids tried to steal almost every third nut cached by squirrels. Regardless of the season, the share of nuts that corvids tried to steal was similar. When the feeding trial proceeded, more squirrels joined in order to obtain food. On the contrary, the presence of corvids seemed to refrain other corvids from joining the trial. The presence of a bird/squirrel audience did not result in more deceptive caches. During direct observations, squirrels interacted mostly with corvids, and less often with people or other squirrels. The most frequent interaction of squirrels with other animals was flight and chasing away; for corvids, it was chasing and following or attempting to steal food. Overall, we showed that corvids can be food competitors and kleptoparasites for red squirrels. Red squirrels, with whom people often have affinity relationships, benefited from direct supplementary feeding. Corvids, in turn, learnt to follow red squirrels to steal human-delivered nuts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10211-023-00432-6.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"acta ethologica","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10211-023-00432-6","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Squirrels and some corvids have successfully adapted to urban conditions. Their populations are often more abundant in city parks than in rural areas. These species may compete, especially in terms of food resources. We studied interactions between corvids (hooded crows and rooks) and red squirrels inhabiting urban park, mostly in relation to supplementary food utilisation in Poland. The study included the following: (a) feeding trials, when squirrels were offered hazelnuts and all stealing attempts by other animals were noted; (b) direct observations of groups of animals (at least one squirrel and one corvid species) with all behaviours being recorded. During the feeding trial, and with constant corvid presence, corvids tried to steal almost every third nut cached by squirrels. Regardless of the season, the share of nuts that corvids tried to steal was similar. When the feeding trial proceeded, more squirrels joined in order to obtain food. On the contrary, the presence of corvids seemed to refrain other corvids from joining the trial. The presence of a bird/squirrel audience did not result in more deceptive caches. During direct observations, squirrels interacted mostly with corvids, and less often with people or other squirrels. The most frequent interaction of squirrels with other animals was flight and chasing away; for corvids, it was chasing and following or attempting to steal food. Overall, we showed that corvids can be food competitors and kleptoparasites for red squirrels. Red squirrels, with whom people often have affinity relationships, benefited from direct supplementary feeding. Corvids, in turn, learnt to follow red squirrels to steal human-delivered nuts.
期刊介绍:
acta ethologica publishes empirical and theoretical research papers, short communications, commentaries, reviews and book reviews as well as methods papers in the field of ethology and related disciplines, with a strong concentration on the behavior biology of humans and other animals.
The journal places special emphasis on studies integrating proximate (mechanisms, development) and ultimate (function, evolution) levels in the analysis of behavior. Aspects of particular interest include: adaptive plasticity of behavior, inter-individual and geographic variations in behavior, mechanisms underlying behavior, evolutionary processes and functions of behavior, and many other topics.
acta ethologica is an official journal of ISPA, CRL and the Portuguese Ethological Society (SPE)