In groups of socially foraging animals, feeding behaviour may change with group size in response to varying cost-benefit trade-offs. Numerous studies have described group-size effects on group-average feeding behaviour, particularly emphasizing an increase in scrounging incidence for larger groups, where individuals (scroungers) feed from the food sources others (producers) discovered. However,...

STRUBBE, J. H. AND J. GORISSEN. Meal patterning in the lactating rat. PHYSIOL. BEHAV. 25(5) 775-777, 1980.The present study was undertaken to investigate feeding behaviour of the lactating rat over the day-night cycle. Food intake was recorded continuously in six pregnant and subsequently lactating female rats with 10 pups each. Although there was a twofold increase of food intake during the fi...

The role of diet temperature in ingestive behavior is poorly understood. We examined the importance of stimulus temperature and water-restriction state on the preference for and intake of water and sucrose. Using custom-designed equipment that allows us to monitor and maintain solution temperatures during testing (±0.1 °C), we conducted a series of 2-bottle preference tests (10 °C water vs. suc...

Food intake carries many potential risks which may impair an animal's reproductive success not only in the current breeding cycle, but also for the rest of its lifetime. We examine the lifetime trade-off between the costs and benefits of food intake by presenting a simple animal foraging model, where each unit of food eaten carries with it a risk of mortality. We show that the optimal food inta...

Differences in bold and shy personality on sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax were investigated between a population (wild) produced from wild-brood fish and a population (selected) produced from selected-brood fish. During the experiment (112 days), fish were reared under self-feeding condition to characterize the feeding behaviour of each individual fish. Three risk-taking tests (T1, T2 and T3 of ...

The title of this paper presupposes that farm animals do control their voluntary intake but this is really a question of degree. If control were absolute then we would expect, for example, that a fast would be followed by exact compensation when food was made available again; this is not the case, especially with fasts of more than a few hours. However, the fact that some compensation does occu...

Behavior-genetic analysis requries an interfacing of genetics and behavior. This may be accomplished by studying the genetic architecture of specific behaviors and by examining how behaviors influence selection and thereby modify the gene pools of subsequent generations. The behaviors emphasized in our research include those associated with reproduction, feeding and social strife. This morning'...

Sixteen-month-old heifers from herds having known genetic growth patterns were compared for differences in grazing behavior in a 3-yr study. Treatments were heifers from four size-maturity groups defined by the mature size and maturing rate of cow herds in which they originated. Average growth curve parameters indicating mature BW and rate of maturing in these cow herds were 387 kg and .19%/d f...

The effect of crowding and mixing on growth performance and feed intake pattern were investigated in growing pigs in a 4-wk study. Feeding pattern was monitored using automated feed intake recording equipment (F.I.R.E.). A total of 256 Yorkshire x Hampshire and purebred Duroc pigs (initial weight 35.8+/-.86 kg) were allocated to one of the eight treatment combinations in a 2x2x2 factorial arran...

Studies on nonsocial insects have elucidated the regulatory strategies employed to meet nutritional demands [1-3]. However, how social insects maintain the supply of an appropriate balance of nutrients at both a collective and an individual level remains unknown. Sociality complicates nutritional regulatory strategies [4-6]. First, the food entering a colony is collected by a small number of wo...