One Moose, Two Moose, Three Fields, More?

Abstract

This study introduces a new game that models competition in foraging behavior. Two moose decide, in each time period, which of three foraging areas to visit. Moose in the same foraging area fight, gaining no forage and also damaging some forage during their conflict. Moose alone in a foraging area eat, with the forage in each field being replenished with a logistic growth model. This creates a relatively complex game with a rich strategy space in which the moose try to maximize their forage intake. The game is a coordination game, as the moose try to avoid conflict which does not maximize forage intake. The paper reports the results of two student competitions at Innopolis University and performs agent evolution to verify the existence of a rich strategy space for the game.