A stochastic theory for the intermittent behaviour of foraging animals

The best way of finding a hidden target is a general question which concerns many fields of natural and social sciences. It is of vital importance for foraging animals. It has been observed that many species adopt an intermittent behaviour, alternating phases of intensive search and slow displacement, with phases of fast motion for exploring new regions. Here we present an overview of a simple stochastic model which shows that scaling laws should be valid, relating the average durations of these phases. These laws and other results are in good agreement with available experimental data on a wide class of foraging animals. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.