The current state of carnivore cognition

Benson‐Amram, Sarah; Griebling, Hannah J; Sluka, Christina M.

doi:10.1007/s10071-022-01709-2

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 236 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In order to do this effectively, more research is needed, both on the basic cognitive abilities of different animal species, and on the welfare effects of providing them with different types and levels of cognitive challenge. To date, the vast majority of this type of research has been conducted with primates [ 144 , 145 ], animals who differ dramatically from marine mammals in environment, body structure, and perceptual and behavioral capabilities. Within marine mammals, there is also a large asymmetry, with the most research on cognition and cognitive welfare being conducted with bottlenose dolphins [ 37 , 146 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minding the Minds: A Primer on Cognitive Challenge for Marine Mammals in Human Care

Jaakkola

2024

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The past several decades have witnessed significant improvement in the physical welfare of marine mammals in zoos and aquariums. Over that same time period, research has revealed complex cognitive abilities in at least some of these species, yet there has been comparatively little attention paid to addressing their cognitive welfare per se. Studies primarily conducted with terrestrial animals have suggested that providing appropriate cognitive challenges in managed care settings can improve animal well-being. As a step toward facilitating this practice with marine mammals, this paper discusses factors relevant for creating appropriate cognitive challenges, outlines the three major categories of cognitive challenge that have been utilized with marine mammals, along with the logistical pros and cons of each, and calls on organizations that care for marine mammals to cultivate a bias for action with respect to providing cognitive care.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minding the Minds: A Primer on Cognitive Challenge for Marine Mammals in Human Care

Jaakkola

2024

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Learning has been studied more extensively in laboratory settings, but there is still work to be done in ecologically relevant contexts ( Thornton et al 2014 ; Greggor et al 2020 ). Physical challenges, such as the puzzle box paradigm, allow researchers to assess one’s performance in cognitive tasks ( Reader et al 2016 ; Washburn et al 2017 ; Barrett et al 2019 ; Daniels et al 2019 ; Johnson-Ulrich et al 2020 ; Benson-Amram et al 2022 ). Puzzle boxes are ecologically relevant because raccoons have learned to take advantage of anthropogenic food resources, often overcoming similar types of physical challenges to obtain rewards ( Bateman and Fleming 2012 ; MacDonald and Ritvo 2016 ; Barrett et al 2019 ; Daniels et al 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to humans and task difficulty levels affect wild raccoons (Procyon lotor) learning

Lazure,

Weladji

2024

Behavioral Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cognition helps wildlife exploit novel resources and environments. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) have successfully adapted to human presence, in part due to their cognitive abilities. However, interactions between humans and wildlife can create conflict. A better understanding of the raccoon’s behavioral flexibility and learning ability could mitigate some conflicts. Our objective was to evaluate wild raccoons learning in contexts varying in terms of exposure to humans (recreational and preservation zoning within protected areas) and task difficulty. Learning can be evaluated over multiple exposures to a cognitive task. Across three years of experiment, we employed two food extraction tasks to gauge the change in problem-solving performance over trials. This assessment considered the success probability (the number of successful trials divided by the total number of trials) and the time taken to solve the puzzles. We also looked at the effects of two behavioral traits, exploratory diversity and persistence. We found strong evidence for learning over consecutive trials in terms of improved success probability. Improvement in terms of success probability and solving time was more pronounced with the initially easier task. We detected an increase in success probability over trials only in the recreation zones, and there was no evidence for an effect of behavioral traits. The improved performance attributed to learning was also maintained over consecutive years. We provide additional evidence that raccoons can learn how to solve a problem, resulting in a more effective solution in consecutive trials. Finally, we consider the management implications of dealing with raccoons accessing anthropogenic resources.

show abstract

“…Studies on wild animal psychology are growing in popularity due to the important role that this information plays in understanding how wildlife is responding to human-driven environmental changes (Benson-Amram et al, 2022). Such research, however, often characterises animals using adjectives that could be taken out of context and/or perceived as negative when communicated to the general public (e.g., risk-taking, boldness, impulsivity, and intelligence), particularly for "nuisance" animal behaviour (e.g., bin raiding, personal attacks, and property damage).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communicating information about the psychology of a wild carnivore, the red fox, influences perceived attitudinal changes but not overall tolerance in people

Morton,

Henri,

Adaway

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biodiversity loss is inextricably linked to declining human-nature “connectedness”, particularly in terms of how people form attitudes and beliefs about the natural world. Anthropomorphism, or attributing human-like qualities to non-human beings, is an increasingly common conservation strategy to encourage human connectedness to wildlife, but such strategies may also contribute to species’ persecution (e.g., “bold” and “cunning” predators). The public often ascribes psychological abilities to wildlife, but there have been limited efforts to link public wildlife attitudes to actual animal psychology research. Through a national level survey (n = 1, 373), we used a controlled experimental approach to test whether providing information on the boldness and problem-solving abilities of a wild carnivore, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), changed people’s tolerance of them. Half of participants were given information on fox psychology (video or a press release about fox boldness and problem-solving), the other half were given content unrelated to animal psychology (video or a press release about fox habitat use). While attitudes and beliefs related to overall tolerance were unaffected, our findings suggest that providing the public with information about animal psychology research, particularly through videos, may have a role in shaping human-wildlife connectedness by changing, either positively or negatively, other facets to people’s attitudes (e.g., interest factor), and that such effects may be more impactful than information about an animal’s basic ecology. If harnessed correctly, animal psychology research could offer a useful and unique platform for generating greater public awareness and engagement with the biodiversity crisis.HighlightsAnthropomorphism impacts attitudes and beliefs about wildlifeThe influence of animal psychology research is unclearWe show fox psychology research changes people’s attitudesEffects were greater than information about fox ecologyPerceived attitude changes did not impact overall fox tolerance

show abstract

The current state of carnivore cognition

Cited by 8 publications

References 236 publications

Minding the Minds: A Primer on Cognitive Challenge for Marine Mammals in Human Care

Minding the Minds: A Primer on Cognitive Challenge for Marine Mammals in Human Care

Exposure to humans and task difficulty levels affect wild raccoons (Procyon lotor) learning

Communicating information about the psychology of a wild carnivore, the red fox, influences perceived attitudinal changes but not overall tolerance in people

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About