Chickadees are selfish group members when it comes to food caching

The topic of the article I chose focused on the particular caching habits of Chickadees, and if cache pilferage occurred in these populations. Specifically, the question asked was, “How do the caching habits of Chickadees change when in the presence of a familiar observers of the same group and an unfamiliar conspecific observers?” 22 mountain chickadees were captured in September 2009 in Tahoe National Forest over 11km at feeders spaced widely enough to find specimens of different social groups. The experiment placed caching specimens with an observer of the same social group, one familiar and one unfamiliar observer, and with no observers. Results showed Chickadees try to minimize cache pilferage among all observers by going out of site of each observer when caching. The data required was information on how chickadees cache their food, which are acts or events. The method of gathering was direct observation, the researches observed how caching habits changed in each specific setting. This was simply comparing habits of chickadees, non-numerical data, and it was purely researcher-centered analysis, for the researchers compared how far and to what extent chickadees would cache their foods with intent of secrecy. Overall I think this research was successful, the methods seemed straightforward and uncomplicated which I believe to provide thorough research. I thought it was interesting the study noted there were no changes in rate of caching, indicating there was no perceived threat of aggression from the point of view of the caching chickadee.

Pravosudov, V. V., Roth, T.C., LaDage, L.D. (2010, July-September). Chickadees are selfish group members when it comes to food caching. Animal Behavior, 80, 175-180.