Food Storage by Birds and Mammals

This chapter discusses four aspects of these animals' behavior: how stored food is recovered; the life history and social consequences of food storing; the economics of food caching and the decision making it involves; and the interrelations between food-storing animals and their food plants.

Abstract

This chapter discusses four aspects of these animals' behavior: (1) how stored food is recovered; (2) the life history and social consequences of food storing; (3) the economics of food caching and the decision making it involves; and (4) the interrelations between food-storing animals and their food plants. The terms hourding, storing, and caching will be used as synonyms, and the material discussed is restricted to birds and mammals. Many invertebrates store food, and one well-studied instance is described in Heinrich. The chapter describes three animals: Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), South Island Robin (Petroicu uustrulis), and Eastern Chipmunk (Tumias striutus) that illustrate the variation, which can occur in food storing. Storing food is an essential feature of the annual cycle of many animals, it is a prerequisite for successful breeding in some species, and has advanced the time of breeding in others. Finally, food-storing animals are used as agents of dispersal by a variety of plants.