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Investigating the use of sensory information to detect and track prey by the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) with conservation in mind
- Source :
- Scientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2020), Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Pangolins are of conservation concern as one of the most heavily poached, yet least understood mammals. The Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) in particular is a critically endangered species. Here, we investigate the behaviour of these pangolins, for the first time, using a battery of cognitive tasks based on a manipulation of available sensory information. In an object-choice task in which only one of two containers was baited with food, the pangolins were able to find the food with olfactory information alone (N = 2), but not with visual or acoustic information alone (N = 1). The single subject tested on all three domains was further tested on how he used smell to find food by providing him with an opportunity to find it from a controlled distance or by using scent trails as a guide. The results suggest that our subject may have the capacity to exploit scent trails left by prey which can be tracked to a final source, though we found no evidence to suggest that he had the ability to initiate hunts based on distant prey odors. Despite the small sample size, this is the first controlled experiment to investigate pangolin foraging behaviour and cognition, which may have implications for the future protection of pangolin habitat based on the location of prey species.
- Subjects :
- Male
0106 biological sciences
Conservation of Natural Resources
food.ingredient
Behavioural ecology
Foraging
Sensation
Endangered species
Zoology
lcsh:Medicine
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Article
Predation
Critically endangered
Sunda pangolin
food
Hearing
Manis
Psychology
Animals
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology
lcsh:Science
Vision, Ocular
Mammals
Multidisciplinary
Behavior, Animal
biology
Conservation biology
Endangered Species
05 social sciences
Pangolin
lcsh:R
Feeding Behavior
Animal behaviour
biology.organism_classification
Smell
Habitat
Predatory Behavior
Female
lcsh:Q
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Volume :
- 10
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....9e4199d0d067426d4d409642e9c89f09