August 17, 2016
 |
| Barbados bullfinch |
The Barbados bullfinch and Carib
grackle can pass the popular animal cognition test of string-pulling, but this ability
may be unrelated to performance on six other cognitive tests, according a study
published August 17, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by
Jean-Nicolas Audet from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues.
String-pulling is considered one
of the most complex problem-solving tasks for animals. While many birds,
including several corvids and parrots, are capable of string pulling, the
association between string-pulling and cognitive traits has not
been fully explored, and most previous studies were carried out using captive
birds.
 |
| Carib grackle |
Audet and colleagues tested the
string-pulling ability of wild-caught Carib grackles and Barbados bullfinches
by suspending food in a cylindrical container that
was attached to a perch using string, which could be reached by a series of
coordinated actions. To determine if individual variation in performance could be
predicted by results on other tasks, the authors compared the birds'
performance on string-pulling to six other behavioral measures, including
problem solving, temperament, and learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment