Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Pilfering ravens, Corvus corax, adjust their behaviour to social context and identity of competitors

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Like other corvids, food-storing ravens protect their caches from being pilfered by conspecifics by means of aggression and by re-caching. In the wild and in captivity, potential pilferers rarely approach caches until the storers have left the cache vicinity. When storers are experimentally prevented from leaving, pilferers first search at places other than the cache sites. These behaviours raise the possibility that ravens are capable of withholding intentions and providing false information to avoid provoking the storers' aggression for cache protection. Alternatively, birds may refrain from pilfering to avoid conflicts with dominants. Here we examined whether ravens adjust their pilfer tactics according to social context and type of competitors. We allowed birds that had witnessed a conspecific making caches to pilfer those caches either in private, together with the storer, or together with a conspecific bystander that had not created the caches (non-storer) but had seen them being made. Compared to in-private trials, ravens delayed approaching the caches only in the presence of storers. Furthermore, they quickly engaged in searching away from the caches when together with dominant storers but directly approached the caches when together with dominant non-storers. These findings demonstrate that ravens selectively alter their pilfer behaviour with those individuals that are likely to defend the caches (storers) and support the interpretation that they are deceptively manipulating the others' behaviour.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson JR, Vick S-J, Kuroshima H, Kuwahatan H, Fujita K (2001) Training squirrel monkeys (Saimiri scriureus) to deceive: acquisition and analysis of behaviour toward cooperative and competitive trainers. J Comp Psychol 115:282–293

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod R, Hamilton WD (1981) The evolution of cooperation. Science 211:1390–1396

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barta A, Giraldeau L-A (1998) The effect of dominance hierarchy on the use of alternative foraging tactics: a phenotype-limited producer–scrounger game. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 42:217–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertram BCR (1978) Living in groups: predators and prey. In: Krebs JR, Davies NB (eds) Behavioral ecology: an evolutionary approach, 1st edn. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 64–96

  • Bugnyar T, Heinrich B (2003) Hiding in food caching ravens, Corvus corax. Rev Etol Suppl 5:57

    Google Scholar 

  • Bugnyar T, Heinrich B (2005) Ravens, Corvus corax, differentiate between knowledgeable and ignorant competitors. Proc R Soc Lond B 272:1641–1646

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bugnyar T, Kotrschal K (2002a) Observational learning and the raiding of food caches in ravens, Corvus corax: is it “tactical” deception? Anim Behav 64:185–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bugnyar T, Kotrschal K (2002b) Scrounging tactics in free-ranging ravens. Ethology 108:993–1009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bugnyar T, Kotrschal K (2004) Leading a conspecific away from food in ravens, Corvus corax? Anim Cogn 7:69–76

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bugnyar T, Stöwe M, Heinrich B (2004) Ravens, Corvus corax, follow gaze direction of humans around obstacles. Proc R Soc Lond B 271:1331–1336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne RW, Whiten A (1985) Tactical deception of familiar individuals in baboons (Papio ursinus). Anim Behav 33:669–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne RW, Whiten A (1990) Tactical deception in primates: the 1990 database. Primate Rep 27:1–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne RW, Whiten A (1992) Cognitive evolution in primates: evidence from tactical deception. Man 27:609–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheney DL, Seyfarth R (1990a) How monkeys see the world: inside the mind of another species. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheney DL, Seyfarth R (1990b) Attending to behavior versus attending to knowledge: examining monkeys’ attribution of mental states. Anim Behav 40:742–753

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coussi-Korbel S (1994) Learning to outwit a competitor in mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus). J Comp Psychol 108:164–171

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dally JM, Emery NJ, Clayton NS (2005a) Cache protection strategies by Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica): implications for social cognition. Anim Behav 70:1251–1263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dally JM, Emery NJ, Clayton NS (2005b) The social suppression of caching in Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica). Behaviour 142:961–977

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins R, Krebs JR (1978) Animal signals: information or manipulation? In: Krebs JR, Davies NB (eds) Behavioral ecology: an evolutionary approach, 1st edn. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 282–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett DC (1988) The intentional stance in theory and practise. In: Byrne RW, Whiten A (eds) Machiavellian intelligence: social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes and humans. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 180–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Ducoing AM, Thierry B (2003) Withholding information in semifree-ranging tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana). J Comp Psychol 117:67–75

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Emery NJ, Clayton NS (2001) Effects of experience and social context on prospective caching strategies by scrub jays. Nature 414:443–446

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Emery NJ, Clayton NS (2004a) The mentality of crows: convergent evolution of intelligence in corvids and apes. Science 306:1903–1907

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Emery NJ, Clayton NS (2004b) Comparing the complex cognition of birds and primates. In: Rogers LJ, Kaplan G (eds) Comparative vertebrate cognition: are primates superior to non-primates? Kluwer Academic, Hague, The Netherlands, pp 3–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Emery NJ, Dally JM, Clayton NS (2004) Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) use cognitive strategies to protect their caches from thieving conspecifics. Anim Cogn 7:37–43

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fujita K, Kuroshima H, Masuda T (2002) Do tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) spontaneously deceive opponents? A preliminary analysis of an experimental food-competition contest between monkeys. Anim Cogn 5:19–25

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Giraldeau L-A, Caraco T (2000) Social foraging theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Güzeldere G, Nahmias E, Deaner R (2002) Darwin's continuum and the building blocks of deception. In: Bekoff M, Allen C, Burghardt GM (eds) The cognitive animal. Empirical and theoretical perspectives on animal cognition. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 353—362

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare B, Call J, Agnetta B, Tomasello M (2000) Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see. Anim Behav 59:771–785

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hare B, Call J, Tomasello M (2001) Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know? Anim Behav 61:139–151

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hauser MD (1997) Minding the behaviour of deception. In: Whiten A, Byrne RW (eds) Machiavellian intelligence II: Extensions and evaluations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 112–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich B (1999) Mind of the raven. Harper-Collins, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich B, Pepper J (1998) Influence of competitors on caching behavior in common ravens, Corvus corax. Anim Behav 56:1083–1090

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Held S, Mendl M, Devereux C, Byrne RW (2000) Social tactics of pigs in a competitive foraging task: the “informed forager paradigm”. Anim Behav 59:569–576

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Held S, Mendl M, Devereux C, Byrne RW (2002) Foraging pigs alter their behavior in response to exploitation. Anim Behav 64:157–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heyes CM (1998) Theory of mind in nonhuman primates. Behav Brain Sci 21:101–148

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hirata S, Matsuzawa T (2001) Tactics to obtain a hidden food item in chimpanzee pairs (Pan troglodythes). Anim Cogn 4: 285–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kabicher G, Fritz J (1996) Handaufzucht von Kolkraben. ÖKO-L 18:21–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Kijne M, Kotrschal K (2002) Neophobia affects choice of food-item size in group foraging common ravens (Corvus corax). Acta Ethol 5:13–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs JR, Dawkins R (1984) Animal signals: mind-reading and manipulation. In: Krebs JR, Davies NB (eds) Behavioral ecology: an evolutionary approach, 2nd edn. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 380–402

  • Kummer H, Anzenberger G, Hemelrijk CK (1996) Hiding and perspective taking in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). J Comp Psychol 110:97–102

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Laland KN (2004) Social learning strategies. Learn Behav 32:4–14

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith J (1979) Game theory and the evolution of behaviour. Proc R Soc Lond B 205:475–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menzel EW Jr (1974) A group of young chimpanzees in a one-acre field: leadership and communication. In: Schrier AM, Stollnitz F (eds) Behavior of nonhuman primates, vol 5. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp 83–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell RW (1986) A framework for discussing deception. In: Mitchell RW, Thompson NS (eds) Deception: perspectives on human and non-human deceit. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, pp 3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell RW, Anderson JR (1997) Pointing, withholding information, and deception in capuchin monkeys. J Comp Psychol 114:351–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mundry R, Fischer J (1998) Use of statistical programs for nonparametric tests of small samples often leads to incorrect P values: examples from Animal Behaviour. Anim Behav 56:256–259

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Povinelli DJ (2001) On the possibilities of detecting intentions prior to understanding them. In: Malle B, Baldwin D, Moses L (eds) Intentionality: a key to human understanding. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 225–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Premack D, Woodruff G (1978) Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behav Brain Sci 1:515–526

    Google Scholar 

  • Pulliam HR, Pyke GH, Caraco T (1982) The scanning behavior of juncos: a game-theoretical approach. J Theor Biol 95:89–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ranta E, Peuhkuri N, Laurila A, Rita H, Metcalfe NB (1996) Producers, scroungers and foraging group structure. Anim Behav 51:171–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semple S, McComb K (1996) Behavioral deception. Tree 11:434—437

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel S, Castellan NJ (1988) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioural sciences, 2nd edn. McGraw Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry, 3rd edn. Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasello M, Call J (1997) Primate cognition. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe S, Huber L (2006) Animal logics: decision in the absence of human language. Anim Cogn DOI 10.1007/s10071-006-0043-6

  • Whiten A, Byrne RW (1988a) Tactical deception in primates. Behav Brain Sci 11:233–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whiten A, Byrne RW (1988b) The manipulation of attention in primate tactical deception. In: Byrne RW, Whiten A (eds) Machiavellian intelligence: social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes and humans. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 211–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodruff G, Premack D (1979) Intentional communication in the chimpanzee: the development of deception. Cognition 7:333–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank M. Stöwe for assistance and R. Biegler, M. Bouton, G. Gaydon, C. M. Heyes, L. Huber, K. Kotrschal, I. M. Pepperberg, Chris Schloegl, and three anonymous referees for valuable comments. T. B. was funded by Erwin-Schrödinger grants J2064, J2225 and R31-B03 of the Austrian Science Fund. Permits for ravens include U.S. Federal Fish and Wildlife Permit Number MB689376-0, State of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Permit 22077, and Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department Scientific Collecting Permit. The experiment described here was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Vermont (on November 1, 2002, Protocol No. 01–054), USA, where it was carried out.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Thomas Bugnyar

    Present address: Konrad Lorenz Research Station Gruenau and Department of Behaviour, Neurobiology, Cognition, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Thomas Bugnyar & Bernd Heinrich

Authors
  1. Thomas Bugnyar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bernd Heinrich
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Bugnyar.

Additional information

This contribution is part of the special issue “Animal Logics” (Watanabe and Huber 2006).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bugnyar, T., Heinrich, B. Pilfering ravens, Corvus corax, adjust their behaviour to social context and identity of competitors. Anim Cogn 9, 369–376 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-006-0035-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-006-0035-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation