然而,通过卫星跟踪黄石国家公园的69只渡鸦,20只狼和11只美洲狮,课题组发现长距离跟踪捕食者的情况很少发生。相反,渡鸦通常会重新造访经常被狼杀死的地方——从155公里远的地方回来寻找腐肉。就像导航到永久的人为补贴一样,渡鸦似乎记得以前与狼或它们的猎物相遇时形成的腐肉的潜在特征。这些发现表明,空间记忆和导航在食腐动物中扮演的角色比之前认为的要大得多,可能还有其他广泛存在的物种,在寻找短暂的资源。
据悉,食腐动物通常以零星分布、难以预测的腐肉为食。一个长期存在的假设认为,渡鸦通过直接跟随大型食肉动物找到它们的猎物,从而可靠地找到这些食物。
附:英文原文
Title: Ravens anticipate wolf kill sites across broad scales
Author: Matthias-Claudio Loretto, Kristina B. Beck, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. Stahler, Lauren E. Walker, Martin Wikelski, Thomas Mueller, Kamran Safi, John M. Marzluff
Issue&Volume: 2026-03-12
Abstract: Scavengers generally rely on patchily distributed, unpredictable carrion. A long-standing hypothesis suggests scavenging ravens reliably locate such food by directly following large carnivores to their kills. However, by satellite tracking 69 ravens, 20 wolves, and 11 cougars in Yellowstone National Park, we found that following of predators over large distances rarely occurred. Instead, ravens routinely revisited sites where wolf kills were common—returning from distances of up to 155 kilometers to find carrion. Much like navigating to permanent anthropogenic subsidies, ravens appear to remember potential sources of carrion shaped by previous encounters with wolves or their kills. These findings suggest that spatial memory and navigation play a considerably greater role than previously assumed among scavengers, and possibly other wide-ranging species, in search of ephemeral resources.
DOI: adz9467
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz9467
