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Chan DTC, Poon ESK, Wong ATC, Sin SYW. Global trade in parrots – Influential factors of trade and implications for conservation. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
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Rowell MK, Rymer TL. Memory enhances problem solving in the fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat Melomys cervinipes. Anim Cogn 2021; 25:347-358. [PMID: 34453668 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01556-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Problem solving is important for survival, allowing animals to access novel food resources or escape from predators. It was originally thought to rely on an animal's intelligence; however, studies examining the relationship between individual cognitive ability and problem solving performance show mixed results, and studies are often restricted to only one cognitive and one problem solving task. We investigated the relationship between general cognitive ability and problem solving across multiple tasks in the fawn-footed mosaic-tailed rat Melomys cervinipes. We measured general cognitive ability across different domains (memory in an odour learning association task, recognition in a novel object recognition task, size discrimination using different sized pieces of food, and learning across multiple presentations of a food-baited activity board). We also measured problem solving across different contexts (food-baited puzzle boxes in home cage, obstruction task, and food-baited activity board in a novel arena). Mosaic-tailed rats showed a general cognitive ability, with average problem solving latency, memory ability, and learning in the tile task being correlated. As such, individuals that were able to remember an association and learned to solve the tile task solved the problems faster than individuals that could not remember or learn. Our results suggest that problem solving in mosaic-tailed rats likely relies on some forms of simple cognition, particularly memory, but could also depend on other traits, such as an individual's persistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Misha K Rowell
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia. .,Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia.
| | - Tasmin L Rymer
- College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia.,Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, James Cook University, P. O. Box 6811, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia
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Kea (Nestor notabilis) show flexibility and individuality in within-session reversal learning tasks. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:1339-1351. [PMID: 34110523 PMCID: PMC8492579 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01524-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2020] [Revised: 05/10/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
The midsession reversal paradigm confronts an animal with a two-choice discrimination task where the reward contingencies are reversed at the midpoint of the session. Species react to the reversal with either win-stay/lose-shift, using local information of reinforcement, or reversal estimation, using global information, e.g. time, to estimate the point of reversal. Besides pigeons, only mammalian species were tested in this paradigm so far and analyses were conducted on pooled data, not considering possible individually different responses. We tested twelve kea parrots with a 40-trial midsession reversal test and additional shifted reversal tests with a variable point of reversal. Birds were tested in two groups on a touchscreen, with the discrimination task having either only visual or additional spatial information. We used Generalized Linear Mixed Models to control for individual differences when analysing the data. Our results demonstrate that kea can use win-stay/lose-shift independently of local information. The predictors group, session, and trial number as well as their interactions had a significant influence on the response. Furthermore, we discovered notable individual differences not only between birds but also between sessions of individual birds, including the ability to quite accurately estimate the reversal position in alternation to win-stay/lose-shift. Our findings of the kea’s quick and flexible responses contribute to the knowledge of diversity in avian cognitive abilities and emphasize the need to consider individuality as well as the limitation of pooling the data when analysing midsession reversal data.
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Woodley of Menie MA, Peñaherrera-Aguirre M, Woodley AM. String-pulling in the Greater Vasa parrot (Coracopsis vasa): A replication of capacity, findings of longitudinal retention, and evidence for a species-level general insight factor across five physical cognition tasks. INTELLIGENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2021.101543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Conspecific presence, but not pilferage, influences pinyon jays' (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) caching behavior. Learn Behav 2020; 49:23-35. [PMID: 33269437 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-020-00450-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Caching species store food when plentiful to ensure availability when resources are scarce. These stores may be at risk of pilferage by others present at the time of caching. Cachers may reduce the risk of loss by using information from the social environment to engage in behaviors to secure the resource-cache protection strategies. Here, we examined whether pinyon jays, a highly social corvid, use information from the social environment to modify their caching behavior. Pinyon jays were provided with pine seeds to cache in two visually distinct trays. The cacher could be observed by a non-pilfering conspecific, a pilfering conspecific, or an inanimate heterospecific located in an adjoining cage compartment, or the cacher could be alone. After caching, the pilfered tray was placed in the adjoining compartment where caches were either pilfered (pilfering conspecific and inanimate heterospecific conditions) or remained intact (non-pilfering conspecific and alone conditions). The safe tray was placed in a visible, but inaccessible, location. Overall, pinyon jays reduced the number of pine seeds cached in the pilfered tray when observed, compared with caching alone. However, their caching behavior did not differ between the pilfering conspecific and the non-pilfering conspecific conditions. These results suggest that either pinyon jays were unable to discriminate between the pilfering and non-pilfering conspecifics, or they generalized their experience of risk from the pilfering conspecific to the non-pilfering conspecific. Thus, we report evidence that pinyon jays use cache protection strategies to secure their resources when observed, but respond similarly when observed by pilfering and non-pilfering conspecifics.
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Kaplan G. Play behaviour, not tool using, relates to brain mass in a sample of birds. Sci Rep 2020; 10:20437. [PMID: 33235248 PMCID: PMC7687885 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76572-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Play behaviour and tool using in birds, two well-delineated and amply researched behaviours, have generally been associated with cognitive abilities. In this study, these behaviours were related to relative brain mass in a sample of Australian native birds. Despite suggestive research results so far between cognition and tool using, this study found no significant difference in relative brain mass or in lifespan between tool-using birds and non-tool users. By contrast, in play behaviour, subdivided into social players and non-social players, the results showed statistically very clear differences in relative brain mass between social, non-social and non-players. Social play was associated with both the largest brain mass to body mass ratios and with the longest lifespans. The results show that play behaviour is a crucial variable associated with brain enlargement, not tool using. Since many of the tool using species tested so far also play, this study suggests that false conclusions can be drawn about the connection between tool using and cognitive ability when the silent variable (play behaviour) is not taken into account.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gisela Kaplan
- School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
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Teixeira D, Hill R, Barth M, Maron M, van Rensburg BJ. Nest-associated vocal behaviours of the south-eastern red-tailed black cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne
, and the Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo, C. lathami halmaturinus. AUSTRAL ECOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniella Teixeira
- School of Biological Sciences; The University of Queensland; Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia
- South-eastern Red-tailed Black-cockatoo Recovery Team; Melbourne Australia
| | - Richard Hill
- South-eastern Red-tailed Black-cockatoo Recovery Team; Melbourne Australia
- Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning; Victorian Government; Casterton Victoria Australia
| | - Michael Barth
- Department of Environment and Water; Natural Resources Kangaroo Island; Kingscote South Australia Australia
| | - Martine Maron
- South-eastern Red-tailed Black-cockatoo Recovery Team; Melbourne Australia
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences; The University of Queensland; Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia
| | - Berndt J. van Rensburg
- School of Biological Sciences; The University of Queensland; Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia
- Department of Zoology; University of Johannesburg; Johannesburg South Africa
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Abstract
As an increasing number of researchers investigate the cognitive abilities of an ever-wider range of animals, animal cognition is currently among the most exciting fields within animal behavior. Tinbergen would be proud: all four of his approaches are being pursued and we are learning much about how animals collect information and how they use that information to make decisions for their current and future states as well as what animals do not perceive or choose to ignore. Here I provide an overview of this productivity, alighting only briefly on any single example, to showcase the diversity of species, of approaches and the sheer mass of research effort currently under way. We are getting closer to understanding the minds of other animals and the evolution of cognition at an increasingly rapid rate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan D Healy
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
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Mazza V, Eccard JA, Zaccaroni M, Jacob J, Dammhahn M. The fast and the flexible: cognitive style drives individual variation in cognition in a small mammal. Anim Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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Kerman K, Sieving KE, St. Mary C, Avery ML. Social conformity affects experimental measurement of boldness in male but not female monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus). BEHAVIOUR 2018. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-00003519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The standard approach for characterizing boldness rarely considers the influence of social environment on the expression of boldness in group-living animals. We studied a wild-caught, captive population of monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) to investigate the impact of conspecific presence on boldness — a personality trait in monk parakeets — in a controlled environment. We quantified seven boldness metrics across three types of behavioural assay: novel object, emergence, and predator exposure tests in the presence of a companion pair of flock mates. Because of the high degree of sociality in this species, we hypothesized that the presence of companion birds would facilitate the focal individuals’ behavioural responses (i.e., increase the average boldness level). We found that behavioural response in a risky foraging context was inversely correlated between solitary and social condition in males, but not in females. Our results have implications for characterizing sex-specific differences of risk-taking behaviour in social animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaan Kerman
- aDepartment of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Kathryn E. Sieving
- aDepartment of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Colette St. Mary
- bDepartment of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - Michael L. Avery
- cUSDA Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Florida Field Station, Gainesville, FL 32641, USA
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Guillette LM, Naguib M, Griffin AS. Individual differences in cognition and personality. Behav Processes 2017; 134:1-3. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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