{
  "abstract": "Animals encounter a variety of food items and must determine their future value and preservability. Because animals in laboratory settings are typically provided with uniform food items, there is a dearth of knowledge on how animals assess natural complex food. Here, we dissect how wild agoutis-a critical seed disperser of the Neotropics-decide whether to consume or bury food in small caches, i.e. scatter-hoarding. We find that agoutis preferentially cache nuts over fresh fruits and, when foraging, undergo a sharp transition from eating to scatter-hoarding. Remarkably, agoutis scatter-hoarded empty nuts with intact shells but not filled nuts with broken shells. This decision was dependent on an oro-manual food assessment, an ecological information-seeking behavior. They used their lips and incisors - a somatosensory fovea - to navigate the surface of the nut optimally accumulating decision-critical sensory information. Together, these findings provide a mechanistic account of preservability assessment in a wild rodent, revealing how information-seeking behaviors support long-term value optimization in natural environments.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Pennsylvania"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "L. Dumargne"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Williams"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Tibi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "J. I. Sanguinetti-Scheck"
    },
    {
      "name": "D. Galvez"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. Testard"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8vx32fqehz291.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.23.752726",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.752726v1.full",
  "id": "8vx32fqehz291",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.752726v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "animal behavior and cognition"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3207|Primate Behavior and Ecology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214345399",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.752726v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8vx32fqehz291.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:24:32Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.23.752726",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.752726v3"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:animal behavior and cognition",
      "subfield": "zoology-behaviour"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Oro-manual assessment of food preservability in a wild rodent",
  "title_text": "Oro-manual assessment of food preservability in a wild rodent",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:04Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8vx32fqehz291",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}