1
|
Zewald JS, Auersperg AMI. Dunking rusk: innovative food soaking behaviour in Goffin's cockatoos ( Cacatua goffiniana). Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230411. [PMID: 38087941 PMCID: PMC10716660 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Foraging innovations in animals involving the processing of resources that are already edible in an unprocessed state, yet of improved quality in a processed state, are rare but important to study the evolution of food preparation. Here, we present the first scientific report of food dunking behaviours in parrots by Goffin's cockatoos, a model species for innovative problem solving. Observations during lunch showed seven out of 18 cockatoos placing their food into water and soaking it prior to consumption. This was largely done with dry rusk which was eaten almost exclusively when dunked. Furthermore, their transport effort and waiting times before retrieving food from the water indicate their willingness to invest considerable time to prepare a soaked rusk piece of a higher texture quality. Our present results suggest that the function of this behaviour is to soak the food. Because only some individuals dunked food and dunking has not been observed in the wild, we believe this to be a spontaneous foraging innovation either by one or multiple individuals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- J S Zewald
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - A M I Auersperg
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna and University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Laumer IB, Massen JJM, Boehm PM, Boehm A, Geisler A, Auersperg AMI. Individual Goffin´s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) show flexible targeted helping in a tool transfer task. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253416. [PMID: 34185776 PMCID: PMC8241052 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Flexible targeted helping is considered an advanced form of prosocial behavior in hominoids, as it requires the actor to assess different situations that a conspecific may be in, and to subsequently flexibly satisfy different needs of that partner depending on the nature of those situations. So far, apart from humans such behaviour has only been experimentally shown in chimpanzees and in Eurasian jays. Recent studies highlight the prosocial tendencies of several bird species, yet flexible targeted helping remained untested, largely due to methodological issues as such tasks are generally designed around tool-use, and very few bird species are capable of tool-use. Here, we tested Goffin's cockatoos, which proved to be skilled tool innovators in captivity, in a tool transfer task in which an actor had access to four different objects/tools and a partner to one of two different apparatuses that each required one of these tools to retrieve a reward. As expected from this species, we recorded playful object transfers across all conditions. Yet, importantly and similar to apes, three out of eight birds transferred the correct tool more often in the test condition than in a condition that also featured an apparatus but no partner. Furthermore, one of these birds transferred that correct tool first more often before transferring any other object in the test condition than in the no-partner condition, while the other two cockatoos were marginally non-significantly more likely to do so. Additionally, there was no difference in the likelihood of the correct tool being transferred first for either of the two apparatuses, suggesting that these birds flexibly adjusted what to transfer based on their partner´s need. Future studies should focus on explanations for the intra-specific variation of this behaviour, and should test other parrots and other large-brained birds to see how this can be generalized across the class and to investigate the evolutionary history of this trait.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- I. B. Laumer
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - J. J. M. Massen
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - P. M. Boehm
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - A. Boehm
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - A. Geisler
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - A. M. I. Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Laumer IB, Jelbert SA, Taylor AH, Rössler T, Auersperg AMI. Object manufacture based on a memorized template: Goffin's cockatoos attend to different model features. Anim Cogn 2020; 24:457-470. [PMID: 33113033 PMCID: PMC8128754 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-020-01435-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Revised: 09/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Although several nonhuman animals have the ability to recognize and match templates in computerized tasks, we know little about their ability to recall and then physically manufacture specific features of mental templates. Across three experiments, Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana), a species that can use tools in captivity, were exposed to two pre-made template objects, varying in either colour, size (long or short) or shape (I or L-shaped), where only one template was rewarded. Birds were then given the opportunity to manufacture versions of these objects themselves. We found that all birds carved paper strips from the same colour material as the rewarded template, and half were also able to match the size of a template (long and short). This occurred despite the template being absent at test and birds being rewarded at random. However, we found no evidence that cockatoos could carve L-shaped pieces after learning that L-shaped templates were rewarded, though their manufactured strips were wider than in previous tests. Overall, our results show that Goffin cockatoos possess the ability to physically adjust at least the size dimension of manufactured objects relative to a mental template. This ability has previously only been shown in New Caledonian crows, where template matching was suggested as a potential mechanism allowing for the cumulative cultural transmission of tool designs. Our results show that within avian tool users, the ability to recreate a physical template from memory does not seem to be restricted to species that have cumulative tool cultures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- I B Laumer
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, Vienna, 1090, Austria.
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, 375 Portola Plaza, 341 Haines Hall, Box 951553, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
| | - S A Jelbert
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Priory Road, Bristol, BS8 1TU, UK
| | - A H Taylor
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - T Rössler
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine (other partner institutions: University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna), Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria
| | - A M I Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine (other partner institutions: University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna), Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Auersperg AMI, Köck C, O’Hara M, Huber L. Tool making cockatoos adjust the lengths but not the widths of their tools to function. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0205429. [PMID: 30403673 PMCID: PMC6221259 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2018] [Accepted: 09/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to innovatively use or even manufacture different tools depending on a current situation can be silhouetted against examples of stereotyped, inborn tool use/manufacture and is thus often associated to advanced cognitive processing. In this study we confronted non-specialized, yet innovative tool making birds, Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana), with an apparatus featuring an out-of-reach food reward that could be placed at different distances from a tool opening. Alternatively, the food stayed at a constant distance but the tool opening in the front of the apparatus had different diameters. We used a novel material for tool manufacture (cardboard) that demanded an incrementally increased manufacturing effort from the actor, depending on the length of the tool required. We found that our subjects used two strategies to succeed in this tasks: either by making carboard-stripe tools using the full length of the material sheets originally offered or by adjusting the lengths of their tools to different goal distances. Subjects also discarded cardboard stripes that were too short to reach the goal prior to use and discarded longer pieces when the goal was further away than when it was close. Nevertheless, likely due to morphological constraints, the birds failed to adjust the widths of their tools depending on the diameter of the tool opening.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- A. M. I. Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - C. Köck
- Department of Cognitive Biology University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - M. O’Hara
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - L. Huber
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Bayern AMPV, Danel S, Auersperg AMI, Mioduszewska B, Kacelnik A. Compound tool construction by New Caledonian crows. Sci Rep 2018; 8:15676. [PMID: 30356096 PMCID: PMC6200727 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-33458-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2018] [Accepted: 09/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The construction of novel compound tools through assemblage of otherwise non-functional elements involves anticipation of the affordances of the tools to be built. Except for few observations in captive great apes, compound tool construction is unknown outside humans, and tool innovation appears late in human ontogeny. We report that habitually tool-using New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) can combine objects to construct novel compound tools. We presented 8 naïve crows with combinable elements too short to retrieve food targets. Four crows spontaneously combined elements to make functional tools, and did so conditionally on the position of food. One of them made 3- and 4-piece tools when required. In humans, individual innovation in compound tool construction is often claimed to be evolutionarily and mechanistically related to planning, complex task coordination, executive control, and even language. Our results are not accountable by direct reinforcement learning but corroborate that these crows possess highly flexible abilities that allow them to solve novel problems rapidly. The underlying cognitive processes however remain opaque for now. They probably include the species' typical propensity to use tools, their ability to judge affordances that make some objects usable as tools, and an ability to innovate perhaps through virtual, cognitive simulations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- A M P von Bayern
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, OX1 3PS, Oxford, UK. .,Department II of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany. .,Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology, 82319, Seewiesen, Germany.
| | - S Danel
- Department II of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany.,Laboratory for the Study of Cognitive Mechanisms, University of Lyon, Bron Rhône-Alpes, 69500, France
| | - A M I Auersperg
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210, Wien, Austria.,Messerli Research Institute, Medical University of Vienna, 1010, Wien, Austria.,Messerli Research Institute, University of Vienna, 1090, Wien, Austria
| | - B Mioduszewska
- Department II of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - A Kacelnik
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, OX1 3PS, Oxford, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Laumer IB, Bugnyar T, Reber SA, Auersperg AMI. Can hook-bending be let off the hook? Bending/unbending of pliant tools by cockatoos. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 284:20171026. [PMID: 28878059 PMCID: PMC5597828 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2017] [Accepted: 07/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The spontaneous crafting of hook-tools from bendable material to lift a basket out of a vertical tube in corvids has widely been used as one of the prime examples of animal tool innovation. However, it was recently suggested that the animals' solution was hardly innovative but strongly influenced by predispositions from habitual tool use and nest building. We tested Goffin's cockatoo, which is neither a specialized tool user nor a nest builder, on a similar task set-up. Three birds individually learned to bend hook tools from straight wire to retrieve food from vertical tubes and four subjects unbent wire to retrieve food from horizontal tubes. Pre-experience with ready-made hooks had some effect but was not necessary for success. Our results indicate that the ability to represent and manufacture tools according to a current need does not require genetically hardwired behavioural routines, but can indeed arise innovatively from domain general cognitive processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- I B Laumer
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - T Bugnyar
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - S A Reber
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine (other partner institutions: University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna), Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - A M I Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine (other partner institutions: University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna), Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Laumer IB, Bugnyar T, Auersperg AMI. Flexible decision-making relative to reward quality and tool functionality in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana). Sci Rep 2016; 6:28380. [PMID: 27334699 PMCID: PMC4917853 DOI: 10.1038/srep28380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 06/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Decisions involving the use of tools may require an agent to consider more levels of relational complexity than merely deciding between an immediate and a delayed option. Using a new experimental approach featuring two different types of tools, two apparatuses as well as two different types of reward, we investigated the Goffin cockatoos’ ability to make flexible and profitable decisions within five different setups. Paralleling previous results in primates, most birds overcame immediate drives in favor of future gains; some did so even if tool use involved additional work effort. Furthermore, at the group level subjects maximized their profit by simultaneously considering both the quality of an immediate versus a delayed food reward (accessible with a tool) and the functionality of the available tool. As their performance levels remained stable across trials in all testing setups, this was unlikely the result of a learning effect. The Goffin cockatoos’ ability to focus on relevant information was constrained when all task components (both food qualities, both apparatuses and both tools) were presented at the same time.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- I B Laumer
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - T Bugnyar
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - A M I Auersperg
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Auersperg AMI, von Bayern AMI, Weber S, Szabadvari A, Bugnyar T, Kacelnik A. Social transmission of tool use and tool manufacture in Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini). Proc Biol Sci 2015; 281:rspb.2014.0972. [PMID: 25185997 PMCID: PMC4173672 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Tool use can be inherited, or acquired as an individual innovation or by social transmission. Having previously reported individual innovative tool use and manufacture by a Goffin cockatoo, we used the innovator (Figaro, a male) as a demonstrator to investigate social transmission. Twelve Goffins saw either demonstrations by Figaro, or 'ghost' controls where tools and/or food were manipulated using magnets. Subjects observing demonstrations showed greater tool-related performance than ghost controls, with all three males in this group (but not the three females) acquiring tool-using competence. Two of these three males further acquired tool-manufacturing competence. As the actions of successful observers differed from those of the demonstrator, result emulation rather than high-fidelity imitation is the most plausible transmission mechanism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- A M I Auersperg
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - A M I von Bayern
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse 4, Seewiesen 82319, Germany
| | - S Weber
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria
| | - A Szabadvari
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria
| | - T Bugnyar
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1190, Austria
| | - A Kacelnik
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Abstract
Evidence for flexible impulse control over food consumption is rare in non-human animals. So far, only primates and corvids have been shown to be able to fully inhibit the consumption of a desirable food item in anticipation for a gain in quality or quantity longer than a minute. We tested Goffin cockatoos (Cacatua goffini) in an exchange task. Subjects were able to bridge delays of up to 80 s for a preferred food quality and up to 20 s for a higher quantity, providing the first evidence for temporal discounting in birds that do not cache food.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- A M I Auersperg
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, , Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|