Recaching Decisions of Florida Scrub-Jays are Sensitive to Ecological Conditions

What is it about?

Scrub jays frequently cache food items for future use. Once recovered, these caches can either be recached in a different location for future use or consumed immediately after recovery. Our field study demonstrates that jays decision to recache or eat a recovered item depend exclusively on ecological conditions which influence the viability of the item.

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Why is it important?

Caching behavior provides a window into multiple aspects of animal cognition, including learning, memory (possibly even episodic-like memory, which involves remembering what, where and when), and decision-making.