How tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) perform in a searching task: evidence for strategy use

This study investigated how male tree shrews (Tupaia belangen) performed in a searching task while in their home cages and assessed whether different food distributions affected their performance. The animals were faced with a holeboard containing 9 food sources arranged in a 3 x 3 matrix or in 3 clusters, each containing 3 sources. Animals tended to start and end the trials from preferred locations, thereafter solving the task by strategically organizing the reward collection according to a minimum-distance principle. In the cluster configuration, they visited the sources hierarchically. Food distribution did not affect the performance. Comparison with data from mice and capuchin monkeys revealed that tree shrews and capuchins solved the task in a similar strategic way, whereas mice did not. These findings attract particular attention because of the phylogenetic position of tree shrews, which are regarded as closely related to primates.