Tool use promotes dental health: Using tools increases foraging success in sea otters and protects their teeth from damage

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Abstract

Across the animal kingdom, different types of adaptation have evolved that allow animals to access otherwise inaccessible prey. These range from morphological adaptations, such as elongated fingers in aye-aye lemurs (Daubentonia madagascariensis) (1), to behavioural adaptations, such as prey drop-ping by corvids, gulls, and raptors (2) and tool use in birds and mammals (3). Using tools, such as sticks and stones, for ex-tractive foraging allows animals to access highly nutritious prey but also incurs time and energy costs (4). It is, therefore, gen-erally assumed that the benefits of tool use outweigh the costs for this behaviour to be maintained in a population (5). However, quantifying these benefits-especially in terms of fitness-remains challenging (6).On page 798 of this issue, Law et al. (7) re-port that tool use allows southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis) to increase foraging success while reducing tooth damage, di-rectly linking the physical benefits of tool use to improved overall fitness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)740-741
JournalScience
Volume384
Issue number6697
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 May 2024

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 106051 Behavioural biology

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