Local enhancement and social foraging in a non-social insular lizard

Abstract

Even in solitary foragers, conspecifics can provide reliable information about food location. The insular lizard Podarcis lilfordi is a solitary species with high population densities that sometimes aggregate around rich food patches. Its diet includes novel and unpredictable resources, such as carcasses or plants, whose exploitation quickly became widespread among the population. We tested the use of social information by lizards through some field experiments in which they had to choose one of the two pieces of fruit. Probably due to local enhancement, lizards preferred to feed on the piece of fruit where conspecifics or lizard-shaped models were already present. Conspecifics' behaviour, but also their mere presence, seems to be a valuable source of information to decide where to feed. Lizards also showed a strong attraction to conspecifics, even in the absence of food. Maybe the presence of a group is interpreted as an indirect cue for the presence of food. The group size was not important to females, but males had a significantly higher attraction towards groups with three conspecifics. We discuss some characteristics of P. lilfordi at Aire Island that can explain the development of the observed social foraging, as well as their possible consequences.

Evidence for Social Learning in a Family Living Lizard

“…In summary, female tree skinks use social information to solve a foraging task in the laboratory. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of social learning in a family living lizard and adds to the evidence that social learning is prevalent in lizards (Noble et al, 2014;Kis et al, 2015;Pérez-Cembranos and Pérez-Mellado, 2015). More tests of social learning from systems with different evolutionary history, social systems, life history tactics, and ecological constraints, would be informative.…”

The loneliness of the long-distance toad: invasion history and social attraction in cane toads ( Rhinella marina )

“…For example, seeking out conspecifics may facilitate finding safe and reliable food patches [9]. Cane toads are attracted to foraging areas occupied by already-feeding conspecifics [17], as has also been documented in lizards [18] and crab spiders [19].…”

Balearic lizards use chemical cues from a complex deceptive mimicry to capture attracted pollinators

“…Lizards rapidly learned to use open spathes of H. muscivorus as perching sites for thermoregulation and sit‐and‐wait capture of flying prey. The behavior of the lizards, which are strongly attracted by conspecific foraging activities (Pérez‐Cembranos & Pérez‐Mellado, ), allows extremely rapid spread among individuals of incorporating novel food resources and foraging behaviors. This may explain the spread among lizards of foraging and basking behaviors on H. muscivorus .…”