Behavioral preferences for bamboo in a pair of captive giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.20038.abs Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are members of the order Carnivora. Their diet, however, consists almost entirely of bamboo. Herbivores are under strong pressure to be selective in what they eat because of the low digestibility of plant material. The purpose of this study was to determine whether two captive giant pandas exhibited preferences […]
Habitat and Resource Partitioning Between Abundant and Relatively Rare Grazing Ungulates
Species assemblages commonly include species persisting at low density alongside more abundant species, raising questions about the mechanisms enabling this coexistence. Relatively rare species may persist through (1) specializing on a narrow range of resource types that are sparsely but widely available or (2) precisely selecting patches where their favoured resources are concentrated that are […]
Role of early experience in the development of preference for low-quality food in sheep
Domestic ruminant selectivity induces floristic changes in pasturelands, risking sustainability and limiting the subsequent availability of susceptible plant species. Development of preferences for species of lower nutritional quality may help to overcome those problems. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that early experience of sheep with a low-quality food (LQF) in a nutritional enriched […]
Does feeding area restriction inhibit social learning of toxic weed ingestion in cattle?
Social learning from peers can trigger herd-wide intoxication with white locoweed (Oxytropis sericea), an alkaloid-synthesizing herbaceous legume that grows on rangelands of western North America. We conducted an experiment to test the hypothesis that restriction of the area allocated to animals to feed in would inhibit social facilitation of locoweed ingestion in yearling heifers. Eight […]