Effect of Caloric Value of Nuts on Food Preferences of Corvus brachyrhynchos

Abstract

The nut preferences of Corvus brachyrhynchos, or commonly known as the American crow, were observed to determine if caloric value was the main driving force for preferred consumption for common urban birds. Birds tend to prefer protein and energy-rich nuts compared to cheese and crackers, according to a 2017 study (Støstad et al, 2017). Our null hypothesis is that if the birds are more driven towards high-calorie foods, then more of the pecans would be consumed. To determine if this preference extends to the entire nut family, a 2-week long experiment was performed to collect data on how many almonds, peanuts, pecans and walnuts the birds would eat daily. The data was then statistically analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis test, which produced a p-value of 0.9953. Since the p-value > 0.05, we fail to reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there was no significant difference in nut preference due to caloric differences in Corvus brachyrhynchos.