Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Vertical string-pulling in green jays (Cyanocorax yncas).

Héctor Marín Manrique1, Adriano-Bruno Chaves Molina2, Sandra Posada2

  • 1Departamento de Psicología y Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, Campus Universitario de Teruel, Ciudad Escolar, s/n. 44003, Teruel,Spain.

Behavioural Processes
|April 17, 2017
PubMed
Summary

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Veterans Affairs FreshConnectProduceRx: a study protocol for a pragmatic quasi-experimental study assessing health, healthcare costs, and implementation processes of a produce prescription program in VA medical centers.

BMC public health·2025
Same author

'Snakes and ladders' in paleoanthropology: From cognitive surprise to skillfulness a million years ago.

Physics of life reviews·2024
Same author

Giraffes make decisions based on statistical information.

Scientific reports·2023
Same author

Innovation across 13 ungulate species: problem solvers are less integrated in the social group and less neophobic.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2023
Same author

Neophobia in 10 ungulate species-a comparative approach.

Behavioral ecology and sociobiology·2021
Same author

Comparative cognition in three understudied ungulate species: European bison, forest buffalos and giraffes.

Frontiers in zoology·2021

Green jays demonstrated tool use by pulling strings to get food, showing problem-solving skills. However, they struggled with string discrimination tasks, unlike some related corvid species.

Area of Science:

  • Animal cognition
  • Avian behavior
  • Comparative psychology

Background:

  • Green jays (Cyanocorax yncas) are non-corvid birds whose cognitive abilities are less understood than those of corvids.
  • Investigating tool use in non-corvid species provides insights into the evolution of cognitive complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the problem-solving and tool-using capabilities of green jays using the string-pulling paradigm.
  • To compare the cognitive performance of green jays with that of corvid species.

Main Methods:

  • Five adult green jays were trained on a vertical string-pulling task to retrieve an attached food reward.
  • Experiments involved single string retrieval, discrimination between functional and non-functional strings, and a stringent string array task.
Keywords:
CognitionCorvidsCyanocorax yncasInsightMeans-end understandingString-pulling

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Three out of five green jays successfully used a sequence of beak-pulling and foot-stepping to retrieve the reward.
  • Subjects showed random choices in discrimination tasks but succeeded in a more complex string array task without visual access to the reward.

Conclusions:

  • Green jays exhibit basic tool-use capabilities, including a form of sequential manipulation.
  • Their performance suggests a degree of cognitive flexibility but highlights differences compared to extensively studied corvid species in specific tasks.