渡鸦在广阔尺度上预判狼的捕杀地点

Matthias-Claudio Loretto1,2*, Kristina B. Beck3, Douglas W. Smith4, Daniel R. Stahler4, Lauren E. Walker4†, Martin Wikelski2,5, Thomas Mueller3,6, Kamran Safi2,5, John M. Marzluff7 Scavengers generally rely on patchily distributed, unpredictable carrion. A long-standing hypothesis suggests scavenging ravens reliably locate such food by directly following large carnivores to their kills. However, by satellite tracking 69 ravens, 20 wolves, and 11 cougars in Yellowstone National Park, we found that following of predators over large distances rarely occurred. Instead, ravens routinely revisited sites where wolf kills were common—returning from distances of up to 155 kilometers to find carrion. Much like navigating to permanent anthropogenic subsidies, ravens appear to remember potential sources of carrion shaped by previous encounters with wolves or their kills. …