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Full-Text Articles in Behavior and Ethology
Do Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus Carolinensis) Use Human-Provided Cues To Increase Foraging Success In Urban Landscapes?, Aditya A. Mehta, Jeeva H. Rathnaweera
Do Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus Carolinensis) Use Human-Provided Cues To Increase Foraging Success In Urban Landscapes?, Aditya A. Mehta, Jeeva H. Rathnaweera
Undergraduate Arts and Research Showcase
The coexistence of humans with other animals in urban and suburban areas has given rise to a spectrum of agonistic and beneficial interactions. Animals thriving in urban settings are known to exhibit superior foraging and food extraction abilities compared to their wild conspecifics. This has raised the question regarding if non-human animals can form and maintain a similar “theory of mind” to humans based on the actions they observe in their environments (Schloegl et al., 2007). For this experiment, human-made click and gaze cues were used while placing food for eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) located on the …
Conspecifics And Familiar Odors Alter Movement Patterns In A Land Snail, Cepaea Hortensis, Madeleine Shelton, Jeeva Rathnaweera, Perri Eason
Conspecifics And Familiar Odors Alter Movement Patterns In A Land Snail, Cepaea Hortensis, Madeleine Shelton, Jeeva Rathnaweera, Perri Eason
Undergraduate Arts and Research Showcase
In some animals, unfamiliarity with a place and the presence of a conspecific can change movement patterns, often altering individuals’ routes, exploration, and the directions taken. Patterns such as these can affect individual survival, and thus might be present across a wide range of taxa, although mostly vertebrates have been studied. We used a native Kentucky land snail (white-lipped globe snail, Cepaea hortensis) to investigate how snail size, familiarity and the recent presence of a conspecific affect movement of snails in a novel environment. We also tested whether presence of a familiar smell influenced movement on a 25X25 cm …
Risk Assessment And Flight Decisions In Adult Versus Juvenile Squirrels (Sciurus Carolinensis), Alex Haydon, Jeeva Rathnaweera, Perri Eason
Risk Assessment And Flight Decisions In Adult Versus Juvenile Squirrels (Sciurus Carolinensis), Alex Haydon, Jeeva Rathnaweera, Perri Eason
Undergraduate Arts and Research Showcase
One way to quantify a prey’s response to a predator is by flight initiation distance (FID), the distance between a predator and prey at the moment the prey flees. As perceived risk from a predator increases, FID increases. Juvenile animals typically flee from approaching threats sooner than do adults because they have less able risk assessment. However, our observations suggested juvenile squirrels might use a different tactic: foraging near refuges. We first tested whether age affected squirrels’ FID in response to an approaching human on the UofL campus, where squirrels experience high levels of interactions with humans from an early …