Enhanced problem-solving ability as an adaptation to urban environments in house mice

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Animal behavior
• Urban ecology

Background:

• Human activities significantly impact global species distribution and abundance.
• While ecological effects of human-altered environments are known, evolutionary impacts remain understudied.
• Enhanced cognitive abilities are hypothesized as key traits for species survival in human-dominated landscapes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if house mouse (Mus musculus) subspecies have evolved enhanced innovative problem-solving skills due to long-term association with humans.
• To determine if differences in problem-solving abilities are linked to variations in exploration, motivation, persistence, or inhibitory control.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of problem-solving abilities across different house mouse subspecies.
• Assessment of performance on seven distinct food-extraction tasks.
• Evaluation of behavioral traits including object/place exploration, motivation, persistence, and inhibitory control.

Main Results:

• House mouse subspecies with longer commensal histories (up to 11,000 years) demonstrated superior performance in problem-solving tasks.
• These cognitive enhancements were not explained by differences in exploration, motivation, persistence, or inhibitory control.
• The findings indicate evolved cognitive improvements in subspecies residing in urban environments.

Conclusions:

• Long-term coexistence with humans has driven the evolution of enhanced problem-solving abilities in house mouse subspecies.
• Cognitive flexibility and problem-solving are likely critical for species success in human-altered environments.
• This study provides evidence for rapid cognitive evolution in response to anthropogenic pressures.