Artificial lure use by a Great White Heron (Ardea herodias occidentalis) in south Florida

Evans, Betsy A.; Jackson, Ashley E.

doi:10.1676/18-64

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

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“…Subjects correctly chose the baited cup over the empty cup 74% of the time if they had been shown the contents of both cups beforehand, and 64% of the time if they had been shown the empty cup only [24]. Despite the paucity of cognitive testing, waterbirds are suspected to display behaviours often associated with advanced cognition, including possible tool-use in southern black-backed gulls (Larus dominicanus) [25], and bait-fishing in herring gulls (Larus argentatus) [26] and several species of heron and egret (family Ardeidae) [27][28][29][30][31]. Gulls and skuas (order Charadriiformes) are also well known for their ability to exploit novel environments [32][33][34], which usually requires advanced cognitive abilities [35][36][37][38][39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waterbird solves the string-pull test

Lamarre

Wilson

2021

R. Soc. open sci.

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String-pulling is among the most widespread cognitive tasks used to test problem-solving skills in mammals and birds. The task requires animals to comprehend that pulling on a non-valuable string moves an otherwise inaccessible food reward to within their reach. Although at least 90 avian species have been administered the string-pull test, all but five of them were perching birds (passeriformes) or parrots (psittaciformes). Waterbirds (Aequorlitornithes) are poorly represented in the cognitive literature, yet are known to engage in complex foraging behaviours. In this study, we tested whether free-living ring-billed gulls ( Larus delawarensis ), a species known for their behavioural flexibility and foraging innovativeness, could solve a horizontal string-pull test. Here, we show that 25% (26/104) of the ring-billed gulls that attempted to solve the test at least once over a maximum of three trials were successful, and that 21% of them (22/104) succeeded during their first attempt. Ring-billed gulls are thus the first waterbird known to solve a horizontal single-string-rewarded string-pull test. Since innovation rate and problem-solving are associated with species' ability to endure environmental alterations, we suggest that testing the problem-solving skills of other species facing environmental challenges will inform us of their vulnerability in a rapidly changing world.

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