Teaser
Foraging cognition incorporates abilities across both physical and social domains. But how to find food that's not freely available? The extraction and processing of embedded or encased food like arthropods, nuts and eggs involves intensive object manipulation, sometimes even tools, and can be socially learned. Through the study of large-brained, long-lived and social bird species (corvids and parrots) – I investigate real-life foraging problems, ranging from tool use behaviour and prey dropping in various crow species to innovations and culture in urban sulphur-crested cockatoos. Exploring both ecological and social drivers, I use a combination of classic behavioural observations, novel experimental designs and citizen science in my work, which is grounded in the natural history of my study species. I will present past and current research on decision-making processes, cost-mitigation strategies, tool-handling performance and social learning, and focus on how the physical and social environment shapes these distinctive behaviours. Finally, I would like to discuss some new ideas linking my expertise in foraging cognition with my second interest in vocal behaviour, because after all, if we want to understand the evolution of enhanced cognition, motor and vocal skills go hand in hand.
Ass.-Prof. Barbara Klump, PhD
Barbara Klump is a behavioural ecologist. After receiving her PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of St Andrews (UK), she was a postdoctoral researcher at St Andrews and at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour (DE). She joined the Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology in 2023 and leads the WWTF Vienna Research Groups for Young Investigators "The interplay between cognition and ecology in extractive foraging behaviours". Barbara is a member of the Vienna CogSciHub Management Board.
