Gaze Following in Ungulates: Domesticated and Non-domesticated Species Follow the Gaze of Both Humans and Conspecifics in an Experimental Context

Abstract

Gaze following is the ability to use others’ gaze to obtain information about the environment (e.g., food location, predators, and social interactions). As such, it may be highly adaptive in a variety of socio-ecological contexts, and thus be widespread across animal taxa. To date, gaze following has been mostly studied in primates, and partially in birds, but little is known on the gaze following abilities of other taxa and, especially, on the evolutionary pressures that led to their emergence. In this study, we used an experimental approach to test gaze following skills in a still understudied taxon, ungulates. Across four species (i.e., domestic goats and lamas, and non-domestic guanacos and mouflons), we assessed the individual ability to spontaneously follow the gaze of both conspecifics and human experimenters in different conditions. In line with our predictions, species followed the model’s gaze both with human and conspecific models, but more likely with the latter. Except for guanacos, all species showed gaze following significantly more in the experimental conditions (than in the control ones). Despite the relative low number of study subjects, our study provides the first experimental evidence of gaze following skills in non-domesticated ungulates, and contributes to understanding how gaze following skills are distributed in another taxon—an essential endeavor to identify the evolutionary pressures leading to the emergence of gaze following skills across taxa.

Problem solving in European bison (Bison bonasus): two experimental approaches

“…Our study should clearly be considered as a first preliminary step in the investigation of problem solving in non-domesticated ungulate species. Overall, it confirms ungulates as a promising model to study innovation and, more generally, cognition [ 28 , 30 , 59 – 62 ]. Despite their relatively small brain size [ 50 , 51 ], bison showed some ability to solve novel problems, although their exact understanding of the functional aspects of the tasks is unclear.…”

Gaze following in Archosauria – Alligators and palaeognath birds suggest dinosaur origin of visual perspective taking

“…Gazefollowing into the distance has so far been found in all studied amniotes, ranging from mammals to birds and reptiles [e.g. 19,20,21]. As mentioned, high level gaze-following, on the other hand, is a notably more advanced form.…”

“…Gaze-following into the distance has so far been found in all studied amniotes, ranging from mammals to birds and reptiles [e.g. 19, 20, 21].…”

Why imaginary worlds? The psychological foundations and cultural evolution of fictions with imaginary worlds

“…When released into novel, empty enclosures, zebrafish exhibit particular spatial and temporal exploratory patterns, including preferences for perimeter zones in apparent attempts to escape, light versus dark zones, and establishment of a home base (e.g., Blaser, Chadwick & McGinnis, 2010;Blaser & Rosemberg, 2012;Champagne, Hoefnagels, De Kloet, & Richardson, 2010;Eilam & Golani, 1989;Stewart et al, 2010Stewart et al, , 2012. Rats, humans, and other organisms similarly exhibit distinctive exploratory patterns (e.g., Drai, Benjamini, & Golani, 2000;Gagnon, Cashdan, Stefanucci, & Creem-Regehr, 2016Huang, Kerman, Sieving, & Mary, 2016;Thompson, Berkowitz & Clark, 2018), and different investigatory and ranging behavior in response to different environmental cues (e.g., Schaffer et al, 2020;Schloegl, Kotrschal, & Bugnyar, 2007;Shepherd, 2010). Additionally, responses to novelty cease more or less quickly depending on the species and features in question (e.g., Deecke, Slater, & Ford, 2002;Epstein, Temple, Roemmich, & Bouton, 2009;Kalueff, 2006).…”