The Effect of Experience on the Foraging Skill of Lambs: Importance of Plant Form

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

Volume

23

Issue

4

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

1989

First Page

285

Last Page

291

Abstract

Livestock moved often from one area to another are required to forage on plants of different life form. The degree to which experience foraging on one plant form affects foraging performance on another plant form is unknown. We compared the foraging skills of grass- vs. shrub-experienced lambs on monocultures of mature crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum × Agropyron desertorum) and the shrub serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia). Grass-experienced lambs were more successful (P−1) grass than shrub-experienced lambs. Grass bite rate (16 vs. 14 bites min−1) and bite size (0.30 vs. 0.28 g per bite) were also greater but insignificantly so (P0.05), more successful than grass-experienced lambs at prehending (93% vs. 86% success) and ingesting (5.0 vs. 4.5 g min−1) shrub. Shrub-experienced lambs had a higher (P−1) than grass-experienced lambs when ingesting shrub, but bite size (0.20 vs. 0.23 g per bite) was similar (P>0.05). We conclude that the skills acquired by foraging on one plant form are to an important extent specific to that plant form. However, grass-experienced lambs foraging on shrubs were aided more than shrub-experienced lambs foraging on grass by their respective experiences.

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Originally published by Elsevier. Publisher's PDF available through remote link.

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