title: Tracking of food quantity by coyotes (Canis latrans).
abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated that Weber's Law mediates quantitative discrimination abilities across various species. Here, we tested coyotes' (Canis latrans) ability to discriminate between various quantities of food and investigated whether this ability conforms to predictions of Weber's Law. We demonstrate herein that coyotes are capable of reliably discriminating large versus small quantities of discrete food items. As predicted by Weber's Law, coyotes' quantitative discrimination abilities are mediated by the ratio between the large and small quantities of food and exhibit scalar variability. Furthermore, in this task coyotes were not discriminating large versus small quantities based on olfactory cues alone.
authors.affiliation: Utah State University, Department of Psychology, USA. Joseph.Baker@aggiemail.usu.edu
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shivik
authors.forename: Kerry E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Jordan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046029:Coyotes / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004032:Diet; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005502:Food; D007600:Judgment; D016015:Logistic Models; D009812:Odorants; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology