GROUPS-IMPROVES FORGAGING

Question 1

Groups improve foraging in 2 ways?

Answer 1

Finding good sites
Catching difficult prey

Question 2

Finding good sites

Answer 2

Honey bee scouts return to hive and convey info about location of food by dancing. This deliberate communication benefits hive mates closely related

Question 3

Ward and Zahavi proposed?

Answer 3

Communal roosts and nesting colonies of birds may act as information centers in which individuals find out about food location

Question 4

Does not require deliberate communication of information as

Answer 4

Animals pick up clues. e.g. birds observe insects or fish in beak

Question 5

Information center hypothesis generates predictions

Answer 5

E.g. birds should leave nesting colonies in groups and fly in same direction e.g. barn swallows
In groups leaders will be ones that recently foraged more successfully than followers- cliff nesting swallows

Question 6

Support for information center is also seen in

Answer 6

Ospreys; when one returns to nest with certain types of fish (those that form large schools) others tend to leave the colony shortly afterwards in the direction from which successful bird came from.

Question 7

2. Catching difficult prey

Answer 7

Groups of predators may be able to capture prey which are difficult for a single individual to catch.

Question 8

Why might prey be difficult to catch?

Answer 8

Either too large e.g hyenas hunting zebra or
too elusive for one animal to catch e.g. killer whales hunting porpoise

Question 9

Another advantage of group living

Answer 9

protect from physical factors