Trick or Treat? Free-ranging dogs use human behavioural cues for foraging

Abstract

Animals that display behavioural flexibility and adaptability thrive in urban environments, due to their ability to exploit novel anthropogenic resources. Since humans are an important component of such urban environments, animals that apply heterospecific learning in their decision-making are more likely to succeed as urban adapters. Free-ranging dogs, that have been living in human-dominated environments for centuries, are excellent urban adapters. In this study, we sought to understand the role and extent of human behavioural cues in decision-making during foraging by free-ranging dogs. We investigated whether these dogs were more attracted to items that humans appeared to be eating. When presented with a real and a fake biscuit, the dogs showed a clear preference for the food item. Between two identical biscuits, they chose the one that had been bitten by a human. However, when a fake biscuit was bitten and presented with a real one, the dogs failed to choose one over the other, suggesting a strong influence of the human-provided cue of biting over the natural cue of the smell of the food item. The dogs displayed left-bias during food choice across experimental conditions. These results demonstrate that dog foraging choices in urban environments are a mix of heterospecific learning and independent decision-making, highlighting an important facet behind their success in anthropogenic habitats. This also underscores the high level of dependence that free-ranging dogs have on humans in the urban habitat, not only as a source of food, but as an integral part of their ecological niche.