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Numerical ordinality in a wild nectarivore.

Tas I F Vámos1, Maria C Tello-Ramos1, T Andrew Hurly2

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Wild hummingbirds can remember the order of flowers they visit, a foraging strategy called traplining. This study shows they use numerical order, not just flower quantity, to find rewards.

Keywords:
countingforaginghummingbirdnectarivorenumerical ordinalitytraplining

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Cognitive Ecology
  • Animal Cognition

Background:

  • Nectarivores, such as hummingbirds, often employ foraging strategies like traplining, visiting a sequence of flowers in a specific order.
  • Numerical cognition, including the ability to process ordinality (order), is crucial for efficient foraging in many species.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether wild rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) can utilize ordinality to locate rewarded flowers in a sequence.
  • To determine if hummingbirds rely on an object-indexing mechanism or a magnitude-based system for numerical processing during foraging.

Main Methods:

  • Wild rufous hummingbirds were trained to visit linear arrays of artificial flowers, with only one flower per array containing a sucrose reward.
  • The rewarded flower's position (ordinal rank) was varied during training and testing, and distance cues were manipulated to isolate ordinality processing.
  • Error patterns were analyzed to infer the birds' strategy for locating the correct ordinal position.

Main Results:

  • Hummingbirds successfully learned to locate the rewarded flower regardless of its absolute spatial position.
  • Accuracy was consistent across different rewarded ordinal positions, suggesting the use of an object-indexing mechanism rather than a magnitude-based system.
  • Birds maintained accuracy even when distance cues were irrelevant, and error distributions indicated a potential 'working up' strategy.

Conclusions:

  • This study provides the first evidence of numerical ordinal abilities in a wild vertebrate.
  • These findings suggest that hummingbirds possess sophisticated numerical cognition that aids in their natural foraging behavior.
  • Ordinality processing may be a common and important cognitive tool for wild animals engaged in sequential foraging tasks.