Age-related patterns of neophobia in an endangered island crow: implications for conservation and natural history

Greggor, Alison L.; Masuda, Bryce; Flanagan, Alison M.; Swaisgood, Ronald R.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.12.002

Cited by 28 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Finally, we tested for individual temporal and contextual repeatability. We expected to find individual repeatability, as there were only short delays between test rounds (~2 weeks), similar to a related study in 'A (Corvus hawaiiensus) 34 .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…The world is fast becoming more urbanised due to human activity, with many species being forced to adapt to changing environments or risk survival 3 . As neophobia may impact how quickly a species or individual can adapt, it is a useful tool in designing conservation applications, such as in reintroductions 21,34,44 . For example, the presentation of new bird feeders or safe nesting sites could be modified according to the species individual's level of neophobia, and more neophobic individuals may require more pre-release training than others.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the species typically have different diets, and the food needed to be equally novel for them all, a colourful, human-made food such as jelly provided an ideal option (with prior ethical approval including from a Home Office appointed Named Veterinary Surgeon, Cambridge University). The novel objects came in three variations, but all had the same properties: they were made of multiple items and textures, with no part that could look like eyes (to avoid resembling predators), and all contained the colours blue, yellow, green, and red 34 . Part of the objects also had to be shiny, and the objects were all between one third and one half the size of the subject (so the size of the object itself varied with species; S3 Figure).…”

Section: Apparatus/materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, in line with some previous research, we expected that species inhabiting a broad range, and utilising urban habitats, would show lower neophobia compared to those in restricted ranges and using only sub-urban/rural areas [6][7][8][9]11,33 . Lower neophobia was also expected from species that live in larger flocks and family groups compared to small flocks and territorial pairs, due to the potential of risk-sharing between larger groups 12,34 . As the influence of live hunting (selected as the species tested were otherwise generalists), caching and genus have not been previously tested in similar species, we had no a priori predictions for these factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Individual repeatability, species differences, and the influence of socio-ecological factors on neophobia in 10 corvid species

Miller

Lambert

Frohnwieser

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Behavioural responses to novelty, including fear and subsequent avoidance of novel stimuli, behaviours referred to as neophobia, determine how animals interact with their environment. Neophobia aids in navigating risk and impacts on adaptability and survival. There is variation within and between individuals and species, however, lack of large-scale, comparative studies critically limits investigation of the socio-ecological drivers of neophobia. In this study, we tested responses to novel objects and food (alongside familiar food) versus a baseline (familiar food alone) in 10 corvid species (241 subjects) across 10 labs worldwide. There were species differences in the latency to touch familiar food in the novel object and food conditions relative to the baseline. Three of seven socio-ecological factors influenced object neophobia: 1) use of urban habitat (vs not), 2) territorial pair vs family group sociality and 3) large vs small flock size (whereas range, caching, hunting live animals, and genus did not); while only flock size influenced food neophobia. We found that, overall, individuals were temporally and contextually repeatable (i.e. consistent) in their novelty responses in all conditions, indicating neophobia is a stable behavioural trait. With this study, we have established a network of corvid researchers, demonstrating potential for further collaboration to explore the evolution of cognition in corvids and other bird species. These novel findings enable us, for the first time in corvids, to identify the socio-ecological correlates of neophobia and grant insight into specific elements that drive higher neophobic responses in this avian family group.

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Apparatus/materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Individual repeatability, species differences, and the influence of socio-ecological factors on neophobia in 10 corvid species

Miller

Lambert

Frohnwieser

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We are currently preparing a publication on the influence of socio-ecological factors on neophobia in corvids, encompassing contributed data from 10 corvid labs worldwide (241 subjects, 10 species, 13 groups of birds) [59]. We followed a similar protocol as Greggor et al's [62] Hawaiian crow study. We tested latency to touch familiar food in the presence and absence of a novel food or novel object, compared with a baseline (familiar food only), and run 3x to allow for repeatability [63].…”

Section: -Manybirds Study 1: Neophobia In Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

ManyBirds: A multi-site collaborative Open Science approach to avian cognition and behaviour research

Lambert¹,

Farrar²,

Garcia‐Pelegrin³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Comparative cognitive and behaviour research aims to investigate cognitive evolution by comparing performance in different species to understand how these abilities have evolved. Ideally, this requires large and diverse samples, however, these can be difficult to obtain by single labs or institutions, leading to potential reproducibility and generalisation issues with small, less representative samples. To help mitigate these issues, we are establishing a multi-site collaborative Open Science approach called ManyBirds, with the aim of providing new insight into the evolution of avian cognition and behaviour through large-scale comparative studies, following the lead of exemplary ManyPrimates, ManyBabies and ManyDogs projects. Here, we outline a) why we should study birds, including the origin of modern birds, avian brains, convergent evolution of cognition, and the replicability crisis; b) the current state of the avian cognition field, including a ‘snapshot’ review; c) the ManyBirds project, with plans, infrastructure, limitations, implications and future directions. In sharing this process, we hope that this may be useful for other researchers in devising similar projects in other taxa, like non-avian reptiles or mammals, and to encourage further collaborations with ManyBirds and related ManyX projects. Ultimately, we hope to promote collaboration between ManyX projects to allow for wider investigation of the evolution of cognition across all animals, including potentially humans.

show abstract

Nest quality predicts the probability of egg loss in the critically endangered ʻAlalā (Corvus hawaiiensis)

Mason,

Masuda,

Swaisgood

et al. 2024

Zoo Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conservation breeding programs for endangered species face challenges, notably in the development of husbandry techniques, complicated by the impracticality of conducting controlled experiments. To reduce uncertainty regarding what works in conservation breeding programs, it is essential to capture data. In avian breeding programs, the construction of quality nests and appropriate incubation and handling of eggs by the parents are essential prerequisites to the successful production of offspring. Here, we study factors influencing nest‐building and parental incubation outcomes in ʻalalā (Corvus hawaiiensis), which is extinct in the wild and numbers fewer than 130 individuals in human care. Using parent‐incubated egg data from 2018 to 2021 (171 clutches, 55 pairs), we evaluated the role of husbandry factors in determining the quality of nests constructed by ʻalalā and the likelihood of nest quality and other social and environmental factors to predict egg loss (breaking, cannibalization, or ejection of an egg from the nest). More than half of all eggs laid failed to reach the hatch date. Nest quality was the most influential predictor of egg loss, with eggs in higher quality nests more likely to reach the hatch date. Male age also influenced egg loss, with very young (3 years old) and older males (⪞12 years old) experiencing more egg loss. Furthermore, the two facilities and two aviary types also differed in the quality of nests ʻalalā constructed, indicating that nest‐building behavior can be influenced by husbandry practices. These findings reduce uncertainty and provide insights for recommended management interventions to facilitate successful reproduction in human care.

show abstract

Age-related patterns of neophobia in an endangered island crow: implications for conservation and natural history

Cited by 28 publications

References 35 publications

Individual repeatability, species differences, and the influence of socio-ecological factors on neophobia in 10 corvid species

Individual repeatability, species differences, and the influence of socio-ecological factors on neophobia in 10 corvid species

ManyBirds: A multi-site collaborative Open Science approach to avian cognition and behaviour research

Nest quality predicts the probability of egg loss in the critically endangered ʻAlalā (Corvus hawaiiensis)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About