Cross-modal recognition of familiar conspecifics in goats.

ABSTRACT: When identifying other individuals, animals may match current cues with stored information about that individual from the same sensory modality. Animals may also be able to combine current information with previously acquired information from other sensory modalities, indicating that they possess complex cognitive templates of individuals that are independent of modality. We investigated whether goats (Capra hircus) possess cross-modal representations (auditory-visual) of conspecifics. We presented subjects with recorded conspecific calls broadcast equidistant between two individuals, one of which was the caller. We found that, when presented with a stablemate and another herd member, goats looked towards the caller sooner and for longer than the non-caller, regardless of caller ide

SUBMITTER: Pitcher BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5367292 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature