Communal cooperative aquatic foraging by Wandering Whistling-Ducks Dendrocygna arcuata

Clifford B. Frith, Andy Mason


Abstract

Communal cooperative foraging from the surface of water is here reported for the first time in the Wandering Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna arcuata. Five adult Wandering Whistling-Ducks were observed to form a circle of outwardly facing individuals, using their legs and feet to churn the water beneath them and then to duck-dive into the disturbed water within the circle to forage. Such a specific cooperative foraging technique does not appear to have been previously documented in this or any other species of waterfowl.

References


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