Are comparable studies really comparable? Suggestions from a problem-solving experiment on urban and rural great tits.

ABSTRACT: Performance in tests of various cognitive abilities has often been compared, both within and between species. In intraspecific comparisons, habitat effects on cognition has been a popular topic, frequently with an underlying assumption that urban animals should perform better than their rural conspecifics. In this study, we tested problem-solving ability in great tits Parus major, in a string-pulling and a plug-opening test. Our aim was to compare performance between urban and rural great tits, and to compare their performance with previously published problem solving studies. Our great tits perfomed better in string-pulling than their conspecifics in previous studies (solving success: 54%), and better than their close relative, the mountain chickadee Poecile gambeli, in the plug-opening t

SUBMITTER: Vincze E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11233327 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature