What Is Foraging Behavior?

What is Foraging Behavior?

According to our textbook, foraging behavior also known as feeding behavior involves locating and selecting food as well as gathering and capturing food. (1136). It also states that ecologist study the cost and benefits of searching for and selecting certain types of food as well as the mechanism used to locate prey. (1136). Foraging behaviors also have other characteristics such as optimal foraging and whether or not the species is considered a generalist or a specialist. Every animal uses its own attack strategy when it comes to foraging behavior and their prey have their own technique on how to Lessing there changes of being eaten.

Our textbook defines optimal foraging as the most efficient way for an animal to obtain food. You would think that animals just eat whatever they see and what’s available but this hypothesis is absolutely wrong. According to Darrell Ray, an American Biology teacher human also go through a phase of optimal behavior. Darrell did an experiment with his general ecology class involving a plate of cookies and broccoli. In his experiment he polled how many students would choose a cookie over broccoli. At the end of his experiment he asked his students why did the majority pick cookies over broccoli. There response was because of the taste. Optimal foraging theory suggests a different answer, and it lies in the economic principle of profitability.” Fats and sugars do taste good, as the students noted, but sugars have the added benefit of providing a rapidly available energy boost, while fats have high caloric density. ()

Grizzly bears are used in the textbook to illustrate optimal foraging in animals. Grizzly bears are characteristic as being a generalist species. According to North American Animals, Grizzly bears are omnivorous and will eat nearly any nutritious foods which include mosses, fungi, grasses, herbs, new shoots, leaves, buds, flowers, roots, bulbs, tubers, fruits, nuts, and berries. () They do eat insects and small animals as well but most of the time it’s some sort of plant. To get a better understanding on how optimal foraging is seen in bears, the textbook states that a grizzly bear would mostly like stay in one place and dig for food then to go out and chase it’s food. The reason being is due to the fact that it is more energy efficient to dig for food because the bears’ efforts probably will be rewarded whereas leaving him hungry and unsuccessful because the prey got away.()

Another example the textbook give us is how lions forage. On page 1137 there is a graph that shows optimal foraging is based upon the lion’s group size. During seasons where food was in demand the size of the group didn’t matter but when there was a low supply of available food the size matter.

As stated previously grizzly bears are considered generalist. Generalist can be