"What they're doing is called 'caching', she explained - the act of storing food in hidden places for later use. This behaviour is widespread across the animal kingdom, from squirrels to crows and wolves. One approach, called larder hoarding, is when animals store food in just one or two places to help them get through a long winter - for example, how squirrels stash nuts."
"The other, known as scatter hoarding, is when animals make smaller 'caches' of surplus food in many different locations. This reduces the chances of losing everything to a competitor and is most seen in wild animals such as foxes and wolves. 'This behaviour in modern dogs is an instinctual remnant,' Dr Cobb wrote on The Conversation. 'It reflects the competitive feeding patterns of their ancestors who lived by hunting, for whom securing food was unpredictable, but crucial for survival.'"
Caching is the act of storing food in hidden places for later use. The behaviour appears across the animal kingdom, including squirrels, crows, wolves and domestic dogs. Larder hoarding involves storing large amounts in one or two locations for long-term needs, while scatter hoarding places smaller caches across many sites to reduce the risk of theft by competitors. Caching in dogs is an instinctual remnant of competitive feeding patterns from hunting ancestors who faced unpredictable food supplies. Dogs that experienced scarcity or stress and hunting-type breeds may cache more, and owners should consider underlying reasons when the behaviour becomes problematic.
Read at Mail Online
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]