Abstract Knowing where to find what kind of food, and when, is essential for survival and reproduction. Studying animals’ foraging strategies thus provides insights into the cognitive processes underlying real-world problem solving. We investigated whether free-ranging Guinea baboons ( Papio papio ) keep track of the spatio-temporal availability of a preferred food resource, the Natal orange ( Strychnos spinosa ). An exceptional wildfire that destroyed most ripe fruits in 2019 provided a quasi-experimental opportunity to assess whether Guinea baboons flexibly adjusted their space use to an unexpected change in resource availability or instead continued to follow habitual routines. The animals’ space use patterns shifted significantly following the wildfire. After one single visit, they stopped going to the area during the period when Natal oranges would normally be available. In the following year, when Natal oranges were available again, the baboons resumed regular space use patterns. We also assessed travel linearity, speed, and departure time from sleeping sites towards the target area with and without ripe fruit. Guinea baboons travelled more linearly, 14% faster, and ca. 40 min earlier toward the target area when S. spinosa was in season than when it was not. In conclusion, Guinea baboons rapidly adjusted their space use patterns in response to changes in the availability of a high-value food resource. These results underscore their capacity for flexible, reward-sensitive decision-making and goal-directed foraging.
Behavior is a particular type of organic reaction. It is a cognitively guided reaction: it is an organic reaction guided by cognitions; and cognitions are registers of the internal states of an organism, or of the states of its environment, which allow that organism to functionally adjust the patterns that govern those particular organic reactions that are its behaviors. In turn, the mental states of a living being, its mind, are the set of its cognitive states; that is, the set of states resulting from cognitions that dispose it and allow it to behave in certain ways.
On a global scale, the spread of alien invasive species is one of the leading causes of reduction in native species populations and, sometimes extinctions. Still, only a few studies in Africa have demonstrated the effect of alien invasive species on animal communities. In this study, we investigated the effect of the Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) on the distribution and activity of a ubiquitous primate species, the olive baboon (Papio anubis), in Gashaka-Gumti National Park. We predicted that baboons would be mostly observed in areas that are not heavily invaded by the Siam weed and that the frequency of baboon activities would be higher in those areas. Using direct observations in radial line transects, a generalised linear mixed effect model, and chi-square tests, we found that Siam weed had no impact on the occurrence and activities of baboons in the national park. Interestingly, we observed that baboons frequently travelled in or around C. odorata bushes. However, we did not compare the percentage of time spent travelling with the time spent on other activities. Our study demonstrates that normal activities of ubiquitous primates are unlikely to be affected by the spread of the highly invasive Siam weed in an Afrotropical forest.
