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Experience-based optimal foraging on planktonic prey in Baikal seals.
Yuuki Y Watanabe1, Eugene A Baranov2, Nobuyuki Miyazaki3
1Research Center for Integrative Evolutionary Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI, Hayama, Kanagawa, 240-0193, Japan. watanabe_yuuki@soken.ac.jp.
Movement Ecology
|October 1, 2025
Summary
Baikal seals adjust their search patterns after each dive, using a "win-stay, lose-shift" strategy to efficiently find clustered prey. This dive-to-dive learning helps maintain high foraging rates for aquatic predators.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Aquatic Predator-Prey Dynamics
Background:
- Optimal foraging theory posits animals adjust search patterns based on experience to maximize food intake.
- Strategies like 'win-stay, lose-shift' and area-restricted search are predicted for clustered prey, but empirical support in large aquatic predators is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate fine-scale foraging behavior adjustments in Baikal seals.
- To empirically test predictions of optimal foraging theory in a large aquatic predator.
Main Methods:
- Biologging techniques were used to record Baikal seal foraging behavior in Lake Baikal.
- Three-dimensional dive paths and prey capture events (via acceleration data) were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Seals exhibited shorter horizontal movements and increased directional changes after successful dives ('win-stay, lose-shift').
- Successful foraging dives resulted in decreased speed and increased path tortuosity, consistent with area-restricted search.
Conclusions:
- Experience-based, dive-to-dive behavioral adjustments are vital for Baikal seals to maintain high foraging efficiency.
- These strategies may explain how high predator-prey body mass ratios are sustained in unique ecosystems like Lake Baikal.
