Problem-solving ability in wild raccoons, Procyon lotor, in relation to external factors and individual traits

Abstract

The cognitive process of innovation in animals produces new or modified behaviours in response to new challenges. Common raccoons rely on their problem-solving ability to exploit anthropogenic resources that are not freely available. As a result, they are often involved in human–wildlife conflict. We used two food extraction tasks of varying difficulty levels to measure problem-solving ability in wild raccoons living in three Canadian protected areas. We conducted experiments in two distinct locations within each park based on human footprint: recreation and preservation zones. We also looked at the effect of the presence of conspecifics and of two behavioural traits (exploratory diversity and persistence) on performance. Performance differed between the puzzles, with one of them being easier to solve based on success rate and time to success. The zone (presence of humans) did not affect problem-solving performance, while there was a tendency for solving time to increase with the presence of conspecifics. Exploratory diversity was positively related to success rate and time taken to solve. Contrary to predictions, persistence did not improve performance. There were also individual differences in performance in term of success rate and time to completion. We encourage using multiple concurrent tests to evaluate problem solving with wild individuals. Overall, we provide additional evidence that raccoons are apt problem-solvers, with the potential to adapt to new foraging opportunities, and a relevant species to study innovation in mammals.