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Planning for the future by western scrub-jays

Author

Listed:
  • C. R. Raby

    (University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK)

  • D. M. Alexis

    (University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK)

  • A. Dickinson

    (University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK)

  • N. S. Clayton

    (University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK)

Abstract

Tomorrow's world There is much debate as to whether animals can travel mentally in time, to plan for the future in anticipation of an expected need. It is difficult to prove that an animal's actions are a result of such time-shifting but work on a bird, the western scrub-jay, seems to have done exactly that. The two protocols, the 'planning for breakfast' and 'breakfast choice' experiments, show that jays can provide for a future need, both by preferentially caching food in a place in which they have learned that they will be hungry the next morning, and by differentially storing a particular food in a place where it will not be available next day. The results suggest that the birds spontaneously plan for tomorrow without reference to their current motivational state.

Suggested Citation

  • C. R. Raby & D. M. Alexis & A. Dickinson & N. S. Clayton, 2007. "Planning for the future by western scrub-jays," Nature, Nature, vol. 445(7130), pages 919-921, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:445:y:2007:i:7130:d:10.1038_nature05575
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05575
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Elias Khalil, 2009. "Natural selection and rational decision: two concepts of optimization," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 417-435, June.
    2. Geerat Vermeij, 2009. "Comparative economics: evolution and the modern economy," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 105-134, August.
    3. Hiroshi Ohta, 2020. "The Analysis of Japan’s Energy and Climate Policy from the Aspect of Anticipatory Governance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Gifford, Adam, 2013. "Sociality, trust, kinship and cultural evolution," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 218-227.
    5. Marie-Claire Cammaerts & Roger Cammaerts, 2022. "A Synthesis of Six Recent Studies on Numerosity Abilities in an Ant," Journal of Biology and Life Science, Macrothink Institute, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, February.
    6. Marusha Dekleva & Valérie Dufour & Han de Vries & Berry M Spruijt & Elisabeth H M Sterck, 2011. "Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Fail a What-Where-When Task but Find Rewards by Using a Location-Based Association Strategy," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(2), pages 1-11, February.
    7. Johanni Brea & Nicola S. Clayton & Wulfram Gerstner, 2023. "Computational models of episodic-like memory in food-caching birds," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Adam Gifford, 2009. "Rationality and intertemporal choice," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 223-248, December.

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