Persistence and conspecific observations improve problem-solving abilities of coyotes.

ABSTRACT: Social learning has important ecological and evolutionary consequences but the role of certain factors, such as social rank, neophobia (i.e., avoidance of novel stimuli), persistence, and task-reward association, remain less understood. We examined the role of these factors in social learning by captive coyotes (Canis latrans) via three studies. Study 1 involved individual animals and eliminated object neophobia by familiarizing the subjects to the testing apparatus prior to testing. Studies 2 and 3 used mated pairs to assess social rank, and included object neophobia, but differed in that study 3 decoupled the food reward from the testing apparatus (i.e., altered task-reward association). For all three studies, we compared performance between coyotes that received a demonstration from a c

SUBMITTER: Young JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6619663 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature