Individual and social factors affecting the ability of American crows to solve and master a string pulling task.

ABSTRACT: Crows and other birds in the family Corvidae regularly share information to learn the identity and whereabouts of dangerous predators, but can they use social learning to solve a novel task for a food reward? Here we examined the factors affecting the ability of 27 wild-caught American crows to solve a common string-pulling task in a laboratory setting. We split crows into two groups; one group was given the task after repeatedly observing a conspecific model the solution, the other solved in the absence of conspecific models. We recorded the crows' estimated age, sex, size, body condition, level of nervousness, and brain volume using DICOM images from a CT scan. Although none of these variables were statistically significant, crows without a conspecific model and large brain volumes consi

SUBMITTER: Pendergraft LT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7996111 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature