The Introduction of a Novel Computerized Apparatus to California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus)

Abstract

The use of technology in laboratory and zoological settings has provided opportunities for advancement of cognition research as well as cognitive enrichment in a variety of species. Such systems have been successfully created for nonhuman primates and introduced to other anatomically and physiologically diverse species such as bears and tortoises. However, such systems have yet to be used with frequency in aquatic species given the challenge of incorporating accessible technology in such a setting. Herein, we report the successful creation and implementation of a novel manipulatable computerized system with California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) housed in outdoor sea pens. The Enclosure Video Enrichment (EVE) system was created and provided to three adult male sea lions living at the U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program. The interface was modified from those used with other species to accommodate the anatomical and physiological differences of the study subjects. Training procedures were adapted from those successfully used with nonhuman primates to emphasize successive learning approximations. Each of the sea lions introduced to EVE successfully learned to engage with the system at differing rates over the course of a year and a half. While each showed significant differences in interaction style (e.g., number of button presses), all were able to achieve the same criterion for acquisition. This system is the first recorded success in providing a technological means to test cognition in California sea lions through an animal-manipulated interface and has the potential to function as a form of cognitive enrichment in this species.

Matching-to-Sample Task Training of a Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)

“…Thus, it makes it possible to conduct interspecies comparisons and to solve one of the problems in the cognitive studies on cetaceans, i.e., where the target species has been limited to bottlenose dolphins. Similar to the present study, there have been several attempts to apply computerized tasks that have been used mainly with the terrestrial mammals to underwater mammals [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 61 ]. The widespread use of these methods in cognitive studies of underwater mammals will make interspecies comparisons across a wide range of species easier not only with other underwater animals but also with terrestrial animals.…”

Use of Augmentative Interspecies Communication devices in animal language studies: A review

“…Termed animal computer interfaces (ACI), such devices are similar to AIC devices in that they are apparatuses consisting of symbols to be selected by an animal subject, but instead often function more like vending machines in that they do not necessarily require two‐way interaction (Mancini, 2011). Such technology has been designed with the aim to improve and/or augment the welfare of captive animals (e.g., on farms; in zoos/aquaria; in homes; Westerlaken & Gualeni, 2014; Wirman, 2014), by offering environmental control and/or source of entertainment (e.g., in sea lions, Winship et al, 2023; in primates, Martin et al, 2022). For example, Reiss and McCowan (1993) trained captive dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) to socially request desired objects or activities from humans through buttons on an underwater keyboard, and found subjects' engagement marked by contextually appropriate, spontaneous vocal imitation of the computer‐generated whistles accompanying the symbols (Figure 1d).…”

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

“…For example, simply watching videos on these screens would not count as a cognitive challenge, but doing the initial cognitive work of learning how to interface with the system and select particular videos would. Some examples of virtual puzzles that have been used with marine mammals to date have included the following: learning how to maneuver a cursor to contact a target on the screen [ 123 ], tracking and touching moving images [ 124 ], visual match-to-sample [ 125 ], learning to match visual stimuli to associated auditory stimuli [ 56 ], and using echolocation to draw [ 126 ].…”

“…All of the groups working with dolphins have placed the computer outside of an underwater window, and then either projected infrared light beams in front of the window, allowing dolphins to use their rostrums to interact with the computer like a touch screen [ 56 , 128 ]; or utilized an array of hydrophones in front of the window that allowed the dolphins to use their echolocation like a computer mouse [ 126 ]. The group working with sea lions placed the computer and its controls on land, and used buttons that the sea lion could press with their snout to move a cursor up, down, left, or right [ 123 , 125 ].…”

“…This would depend on both safety and training considerations. If any breakable components of the system are within the animals’ reach, or if the use of the virtual games is mediated by trainer reward (e.g., [ 123 , 125 ]), then caretaker oversight is required. But if breakable components are protected from direct contact and the puzzles are designed to be utilized independently (e.g., [ 56 , 124 ]), then the computer could theoretically be used even when a caretaker or trainer is not physically present.…”