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Published Online May 18, 2006
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1126539

Reports

Submitted on February 22, 2006
Accepted on May 5, 2006

Food-Caching Western Scrub-Jays Keep Track of Who was Watching When

Joanna M. Dally 1, Nathan J. Emery 2, Nicola S. Clayton 3*

1 Sub-department of Animal Behavior, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 8AA, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.
2 Sub-department of Animal Behavior, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 8AA, UK.
3 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EB, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nicola S. Clayton , E-mail: nsc22{at}cam.ac.uk

Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) hide food caches for future consumption, steal others' caches, and engage in tactics to minimize the chance their own caches will be stolen. We show that scrub-jays remember which individual watched them during particular caching events, and alter their re-caching behavior accordingly. We find no evidence to suggest that a storer's use of cache protection tactics is cued by the observer's behavior.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cooperative problem solving in rooks (Corvus frugilegus).
A. M Seed, N. S Clayton, and N. J Emery (2008)
Proc R Soc B 275, 1421-1429
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Mountain chickadees discriminate between potential cache pilferers and non-pilferers.
V. V Pravosudov (2008)
Proc R Soc B 275, 55-61
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Social cognition by food-caching corvids. The western scrub-jay as a natural psychologist.
N. S Clayton, J. M Dally, and N. J Emery (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc B 362, 507-522
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a 'theory of mind'.
D. C Penn and D. J Povinelli (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc B 362, 731-744
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)