Carnivore Concepts: Categorization in Carnivores “Bears” Further Study

Abstract

Although categorization abilities may serve as the foundation for most other complex cognitive processes, this topic has been grossly understudied in the order Carnivora. However, there are a growing number of studies examining the abilities of bears, felines, and canines to discriminate among stimuli that could represent conceptual categories. These studies are few in number compared to the extensive work conducted on non-human primates, but, thus far, results suggest that carnivores show comparable abilities to, for example; form natural categories, discriminate quantities, recognize cues of human emotion, and to discriminate kin. There is little existing work exploring concepts of sameness and relational reasoning in carnivores, and work on social concepts, such as representations of mental states, exist only in canines. Future studies are necessary to better understand the mechanisms underlying carnivores’ categorization abilities and conceptual representations. Furthermore, future work should focus on differences in conceptual ability as a function of social lifestyle and dietary preferences within carnivores. Such studies will be helpful in understanding the evolutionary pressures responsible for conceptual processes in a variety of species, including humans.

A ball is not a Kong: Odor representation and search behavior in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) of different education.

“…Similar to wolves, dogs possess a large olfactory epithelium, expanded respiratory turbinates, and a huge number of olfactory neurons and receptors (Green et al, 2012; Köhler, 2004; Zhang, Wei, Zhang, & Chen, 2011). Dogs’ olfactory acuity, that is, their ability to sense chemicals by smell at low concentrations, is excellent (Köhler, 2004; Miklosi, 2007; Vonk & Leete, 2017; Walker et al, 2006 but see also Horowitz et al, 2013), and they can learn to recognize various odors (Hall, Glenn, Smith, & Wynne, 2015; Williams & Johnston, 2002). In detection tasks, they indicate the presence of specific trained odors.…”

Twenty Years after Folk Physics for Apes: Researchers' Understanding of How Nonhumans Understand the World

“…However, the study of corvids and canids have been two of the fastest growing areas of comparative cognition in the last two decades, accompanied by a general movement toward inclusion of less widely studied species. Research on highly social species still greatly outnumbers that on less social animals; however, studies on carnivores such as cats and bears are growing in number (Vonk & Leete, 2017). This special issue is representative of the field in that the majority of studies on tool use and 2020) demonstrate that methods popularized by studies of primates (e.g., DeLong & Burnett, 2020) can be applied to less typical study subjects, such as elephants, as well.…”

“…Scientists have been able to study a larger number of species in part out of necessity as there are fewer opportunities for prolonged studies of laboratory animals that characterized work in the last century. Research has moved out of the lab and into other settings, allowing access to previously understudied species, such as carnivores (Vonk & Leete, 2017) and pangolins (DiPaola et al, 2020). This movement from the lab to zoological facilities and field sites has removed some of the capacity for control that was evidenced in work like Povinelli's, but it will open the door to understanding the diversity of species and the perceptual and cognitive processes that characterize and enable them to solve the challenges relevant to their own environmental niches.…”