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Innovative problem-solving in wild hyenas is reliable across time and contexts
Lily Johnson-Ulrich1,2, Kay E Holekamp3,4, David Z Hambrick5
1Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, 288 Farm Lane, Rm 203, Natural Sciences Bldg, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA. john3923@msu.edu.
Scientific Reports
|August 5, 2020
Summary
Cognitive abilities in wild spotted hyenas show reliability across time and contexts. This research validates problem-solving as a stable trait in this species, crucial for evolutionary studies.
Area of Science:
- Animal behavior
- Evolutionary biology
- Cognitive ecology
Background:
- Individual behavioral differences are key to natural selection.
- Studying individual variation in wild animals is vital for testing evolutionary hypotheses, especially in cognition.
- Intraspecific studies require cognitive measures to be stable, general traits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the reliability of innovative problem-solving in wild spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) over time and across different contexts.
- To determine if factors like age, sex, test interval, or number of trials affect reliability estimates.
- To assess if problem-solving is a stable, general cognitive trait in wild hyenas.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a multi-access box paradigm to assess problem-solving skills.
- Collected data on wild spotted hyenas across varying time intervals and contexts.
- Analyzed reliability based on age-sex class, time between tests, and number of trials.
Main Results:
- Significant contextual and temporal reliability was found for problem-solving.
- Reliability decreased for adult subjects, intervals over 17 days, and fewer than seven trials.
- Problem-solving reliability estimates were comparable to other animal behaviors.
Conclusions:
- Problem-solving ability in wild spotted hyenas demonstrates significant reliability across time and contexts.
- Cognitive traits like problem-solving can be considered stable and general in wild populations.
- This study supports the use of intraspecific approaches to study the evolution of cognition in wild animals.
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