How alien species use cognition to discover, handle, taste, and adopt novel foods

Griffin, Andrea S.; Peneaux, Chloe; Machovsky‐Capuska, Gabriel E.; Guez, David

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101136

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 71 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous studies have shown that urban individuals are more likely to approach (i.e., neophilic) novel items than their rural or wild counterparts as for example in European blackbirds ( Turdus merula ; Miranda et al 2013 ), great tits ( Parus major ; Tryjanowksi et al 2016 ; Grunst et al 2019 ), black-capped chickadees ( Poecile atricapillus ; Jarjour et al 2020 ), red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ; Padovani et al 2021 ), and spotted hyenas ( Crocuta Crocuta ; Greenberg & Holekamp, 2017 ). But this pattern is far from universal (see reviews: Griffin 2022 ; Inzani et al 2023 ). For example, in corvids it has been reported that the neophilia of urban birds is higher only in certain circumstances, due to experience with specific items (like litter) or even specific humans ( Echeverría and Vassallo 2008 ; Greggor et al 2016 ; Tryjanowski et al 2016 ; Jarjour et al 2020 ; Miller et al 2022 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization does not increase “object curiosity” in vervet monkeys, but semi-urban individuals selectively explore food-related anthropogenic items

Ellington,

Mercier,

Motes-Rodrigo

et al. 2024

Current Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban environments expose animals to abundant anthropogenic materials and foods that facilitate foraging innovations in species with opportunistic diets and high behavioural flexibility. Neophilia and exploration tendency are believed to be important behavioural traits for animals thriving in urban environments. Vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) are one of few primate species that have successfully adapted to urban environments, thus making them an ideal species to study these traits. Using a within-species cross-habitat approach, we compared neophilia and exploration of novel objects (jointly referred to as ‘object curiosity’) between semi-urban, wild, and captive monkeys to shed light on the cognitive traits facilitating urban living. To measure ‘object curiosity’, we exposed monkeys to various types of novel stimuli and compared their approaches and explorative behaviour. Our results revealed differences in the number of approaches and explorative behaviour towards novel stimuli between the habitat types considered. Captive vervet monkeys were significantly more explorative than both semi- urban and wild troops, suggesting that positive experiences with humans and lack of predation, rather than exposure to human materials per se, influence object curiosity. Across habitats, juvenile males were the most explorative age-sex class. This is likely due to males being the dispersing sex and juveniles being more motivated to learn about their environment. Additionally, we found that items potentially associated with human food, elicited stronger explorative responses in semi-urban monkeys than non-food related objects, suggesting that their motivation to explore might be driven by “anthrophilia” i.e., their experience of rewarding foraging on similar anthropogenic food sources. We conclude that varying levels of exposure to humans, predation and pre-exposure to human food packaging explain variation in ‘object curiosity’ in our sample of vervet monkeys.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization does not increase “object curiosity” in vervet monkeys, but semi-urban individuals selectively explore food-related anthropogenic items

Ellington,

Mercier,

Motes-Rodrigo

et al. 2024

Current Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Whereas in areas where the population is already established, the costs of maintaining dispersal-promoting traits, or perhaps the presence of different selective pressures like enhanced intraspecific competition, are predicted to favor different combinations of traits (like e.g., lower aggression and better parental care, Duckworth and Badayev 2007 ), resulting in a non-random distribution of behavioral phenotypes between expansion edge and established population (e.g., Duckworth and Badyaev 2007 ; Burton et al 2010 ; Canestrelli et al 2016 ). By enhancing an individual’s ability to find food and shelter as well as increasing its capacity to navigate novel environments, behavioral and cognitive traits such as risk-taking, exploration, and spatial orientation are thus expected to be more highly expressed at the expansion edge than in established populations (e.g., Gruber et al 2018 ; Griffin et al 2022 ). Differences among conspecifics in exploration, dispersal and risk-taking tendencies, might also promote the accumulation of certain phenotypes at an expanding edge, causing spatial sorting (e.g., Canestrelli et al 2016 ; Chapple and Wong 2016 ; Gruber et al 2017 ; Burstal et al 2020 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Differences among conspecifics in exploration, dispersal and risk-taking tendencies, might also promote the accumulation of certain phenotypes at an expanding edge, causing spatial sorting (e.g., Canestrelli et al 2016 ; Chapple and Wong 2016 ; Gruber et al 2017 ; Burstal et al 2020 ). Studying ongoing processes of range expansion into non-native habitats can thus yield insights into the drivers of biological invasions as well as the role of behavior and cognition in dealing with novel environments, an emerging field of research that is raising increasing interest (e.g., Weis and Sol 2016 ; Jeschke and Heger 2018 ; Griffin et al 2022 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Expanding through the Emerald Isle: exploration and spatial orientation of non-native bank voles in Ireland

Mazza,

Eccard

2023

Current Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Whether introduced into a completely novel habitat or slowly expanding their current range, the degree to which animals can efficiently explore and navigate new environments can be key to survival, ultimately determining population establishment and colonisation success. We tested whether spatial orientation and exploratory behaviour are associated with non-native spread in free-living bank voles (Myodes glareolus, N = 43) from a population accidentally introduced to Ireland a century ago. We measured spatial orientation and navigation in a radial arm maze, and behaviours associated to exploratory tendencies and risk-taking in repeated open-field tests, at the expansion edge and in the source population. Bank voles at the expansion edge re-visited unrewarded arms of the maze more, waited longer before leaving it, took longer to start exploring both the radial arm maze and the open field, and were more risk-averse compared to conspecifics in the source population. Taken together, results suggest that for this small mammal under heavy predation pressure, a careful and thorough exploration strategy might be favoured when expanding into novel environments.

show abstract

Eurasian tree sparrows are more food neophobic and habituate to novel objects more slowly than house sparrows

Krajcir,

Kelly,

Kimball

et al. 2024

Biol Invasions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How alien species use cognition to discover, handle, taste, and adopt novel foods

Cited by 4 publications

References 71 publications

Urbanization does not increase “object curiosity” in vervet monkeys, but semi-urban individuals selectively explore food-related anthropogenic items

Urbanization does not increase “object curiosity” in vervet monkeys, but semi-urban individuals selectively explore food-related anthropogenic items

Expanding through the Emerald Isle: exploration and spatial orientation of non-native bank voles in Ireland

Eurasian tree sparrows are more food neophobic and habituate to novel objects more slowly than house sparrows

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About