Behaviour of Western Scrub-Jays
Western scrub-jays can save for the future. These prudent members of the corvid family can spontaneously plan for tomorrow without reference to their current motivational state.Nicola Clayton and colleagues studied the behaviour of western scrub-jays under different feeding conditions. The birds first experienced ‘training’ during which they were placed in two different compartments on alternate mornings for six days. In one compartment they were always given breakfast and in the other they were not. After training the birds were unexpectedly given food in the evening. The authors report that the birds stored more of this evening food when in the compartment in which they had not been given breakfast - as they would expect to be hungry again the next morning - relative to the one in which they had.In a similar experiment, the birds also differentially stored a particular food in the compartment in which that type of food would not be available the next morning, demonstrating future planning and ensuring a choice of food the following breakfast. Such forward planning challenges the belief, still held by many, that making provision for the future is a uniquely human skill.
CONTACT-Nicola Clayton (University of Cambridge, UK)Tel: +44 1223 333 559; E-mail: nsc22@cam.ac.uk Sara J. Shettleworth (University of Toronto, Canada) N&V authorTel: +1 416 978 5201; E-mail: shettle@psych.utoronto.ca