Early body condition, time budgets and the acquisition of foraging skills in meerkats

Early body condition commonly has important downstream effects on fitness. One, as yet unexplored, mechanism behind these effects may be that condition in early life affects time budgets and hence opportunities to learn critical skills. Meerkat, Suricata suricatta, pups must choose between begging for food from helpers and foraging for themselves. I found that pups in good condition early in life invested more time in foraging than individuals in poor condition and subsequently developed greater foraging efficiency, which was maintained in later life. Young pups spent an average of 18% of their time foraging, even though all pups were initially incompetent foragers and gained few direct benefits from their attempts. Pups whose hunger was reduced through experimental provisioning increased their investment in foraging. This suggests that investment in foraging is mediated by available energy reserves and raises the possibility that, although foraging is energetically costly, pups may gain long-term benefits by practising. Surprisingly, manipulating body weight through long-term experimental provisioning did not result in increased investment in foraging or improved foraging efficiency. Possible explanations for this result are considered. The findings presented here provide some support for the hypothesis that high body condition allows individuals to invest time in costly foraging practice, leading to the development of skills. These effects, acting in tandem with other processes such as differential neural development, may help to explain common links between early condition and future fitness.