Speakers
Description
Foraging animals continuously assess their environment regarding types and locations of food sources. During social foraging, individuals must additionally account for the positions and potential actions of conspecifics, integrating social dynamics into their foraging decisions. Here we test how rhesus macaques (macaca mulatta) integrate information about a conspecific’s actions in their own action planning while foraging freely in an experimentally controlled setting (“Exploration Room”). We hypothesized that monkeys would dynamically coordinate their foraging patterns in time and space, rather than splitting the territory, to maximize foraging success while minimizing conflict potential. To test our hypothesis, we offered to the animals a variety of feeding options in a shared space and tracked their full-body movements and interactions.
In line with our hypothesis, we found that the monkeys adopted a dynamic coordination strategy. After a few dyadic foraging sessions, they maintained a minimum distance from each other while foraging and tended to synchronize their foraging and relocation times between separate feeding stations. Additionally, we found that visual exploration of the food stations (head gaze) was indicative of where the monkey decides to go next, taking into account the partner’s current location in the room.
The observed social foraging dynamics highlight the impact of a conspecific's presence on foraging strategies in rhesus macaques, indicating that a dynamic coordination approach may be more advantageous than rigid territorial divisions in ecologically relevant environments.
