Cognitive flexibility in urban yellow mongooses, Cynictis penicillata.

ABSTRACT: Cognitive flexibility enables animals to alter their behaviour and respond appropriately to environmental changes. Such flexibility is important in urban settings where environmental changes occur rapidly and continually. We studied whether free-living, urban-dwelling yellow mongooses, Cynictis penicillata, in South Africa, are cognitively flexible in reversal learning and attention task experiments (n = 10). Reversal learning was conducted using two puzzle boxes that were distinct visually and spatially, each containing a preferred or non-preferred food type. Once mongooses learned which box contained the preferred food type, the food types were reversed. The mongooses successfully unlearned their previously learned response in favour of learning a new response, possibly through a win-sta

SUBMITTER: Muller M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10907452 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature