Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-11-06DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02013-5
Valeria Mazza, Virginia Schianini, Daniele Canestrelli, Claudio Carere
{"title":"Quick on their paws: mice living in human-disturbed areas are faster problem-solvers than mice in strictly protected areas","authors":"Valeria Mazza, Virginia Schianini, Daniele Canestrelli, Claudio Carere","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02013-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02013-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Cognitive and behavioural flexibility can be crucial in determining the success of animals facing fast-changing, altered, or disturbed conditions. Innovative problem-solving is considered a key trait for dealing with human-induced environmental alterations, as it can allow individuals to find solutions to novel problems that threaten their survival or reproduction. However, the link between animal innovation and human-induced habitat alteration is usually examined in urbanised areas, thereby overlooking potential effects of human disturbance in natural areas, where less innovative animals are presumed to find refuge. Here, we exploit a gradient of human presence and disturbance, epitomised by differential protection regimes in a National Park, to investigate small mammals’ innovation propensity. Using standardized tests directly in the field, we compared problem-solving performance of free-living <i>Apodemus</i> mice in a battery of four single-level foraging extraction tasks and a sequential multi-level extraction task of increasing difficulty. We found that mice living in the non-protected small settlements within the National Park were faster problem solvers compared to mice living in protected areas, both in single-level and multi-level tasks. Moreover, mice living in the buffer zone were initially less likely to participate in the tests and less persistent in case of failure compared to conspecifics living in strictly protected areas, but these differences eroded over time. Overall, these results suggest that even relatively low levels of human disturbance are linked to differences in behavioural and cognitive performance. Among-individual variation in problem-solving might thus play a key role in individuals’ successful coping with the rapid and recent expansion of humans across environments.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02013-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145450571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-11-06DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02010-8
Nathan Klinedinst
{"title":"Compositionality in human and animal communication","authors":"Nathan Klinedinst","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02010-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02010-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Human languages use complex, structured signals whose meanings are compositional. Recent empirical research has claimed to demonstrate compositionality in bird and primate communication (Berthet et al. 2025; Engesser et al. 2016; Girard-Buttoz et al. 2025; Leroux et al. 2023; Suzuki et al. 2017). While the compositionality of human languages seems beyond doubt, it can be demonstrated powerfully and immediately because of several other important features of language. Clarifying the arguments for compositionality in human languages reveals open questions and alternative hypotheses about the evidence from other species, and directions for further research and possible limitations.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02010-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145450606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02006-4
Claudia A.F. Wascher, Gemini Waterhouse, Bret A. Beheim
{"title":"Vocal mimicry in Corvids","authors":"Claudia A.F. Wascher, Gemini Waterhouse, Bret A. Beheim","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02006-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02006-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Vocal mimicry, the copying of sounds produced by another species or the environment, is commonly described in vocal learners, such as songbirds. Understanding the functions of vocal mimicry can help to uncover the evolutionary drivers of vocal learning. Different adaptive functions like interspecific and intraspecific communication have been suggested, as well as the possibility of vocal mimicry to be a mistake during vocal learning. In the present study, we review the occurrence of mimicry in the family of corvids and investigate the socio-ecological factors driving the evolution of vocal mimicry in this group of birds. We recorded evidence of vocal mimicry from primary (xeno-canto recordings) as well as secondary sources (published literature) and found evidence for vocal mimicry in 39 out of 128 corvid species (30%). Socio-ecological factors like breeding system, habitat and trophic niche did not have a significant effect. We used Bayesian modelling based on existing data from primary and secondary sources to estimate the occurrence of mimicry, suggesting that vocal mimicry may be more widespread among corvids than currently documented, with many species potentially being ‘hidden mimics’. Our study for the first time systematically reviews the occurrence of vocal mimicry across the family of corvids and investigates a range of socio-ecological factors driving the behaviour, hopefully inspiring future field work on those species.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02006-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145406337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-01999-2
E. J. Jordan, M. Allritz, M. Bohn, C. J. Völter, Amanda M. Seed
{"title":"Peek a boo! Information seeking about food and functionality in capuchin monkeys","authors":"E. J. Jordan, M. Allritz, M. Bohn, C. J. Völter, Amanda M. Seed","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-01999-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-01999-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The ability to be aware of your own knowledge state (metacognition) can be investigated by examining an individual’s information-seeking behaviour. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) perform strategic searches for food and tools. However, although capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) seek information about food, whether they search for functional information is unknown. Further, if information seeking indicates awareness of what knowledge is missing, rather than an uncertainty response, search patterns should reflect the missing information. We presented 12 capuchin monkeys with two novel information seeking tasks; Experiments 1 and 2 investigated their food search, Experiment 3 investigated their search for functionality. In both tasks information could be sought from two locations; looking below a barrier provided information about food, looking above a barrier provided information about food in Experiments 1 and 2 or cup functionality (open or sealed) in Experiment 3. Monkeys were trained to select the target cup with all information visible. Then we occluded the cups and presented the monkeys with different configurations of missing information requiring looks above, below, or both to locate the target cup. When searching for both food and functional information the monkeys’ searching was selective; it was more likely under occluded conditions. However, search location was not significantly affected by different configurations of missing information, suggesting they were not tailoring their information seeking. This supports previous findings that capuchins perform information-seeking to fill knowledge gaps. However, we found no evidence that searching was sensitive to the information was required. We conclude that capuchin monkeys show selective but not strategic information seeking.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-01999-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145406256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02007-3
Katie J. Harrington, Laura M. Biondi, Megan L. Lambert
{"title":"Rethinking raptors: caracaras as a model for avian cognition in the wild","authors":"Katie J. Harrington, Laura M. Biondi, Megan L. Lambert","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02007-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02007-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Caracaras (subfamily Polyborinae) are a behaviorally distinctive and underexplored lineage of falcons that offer valuable opportunities to investigate the evolution of avian cognition in ecologically valid settings. Belonging to the sister clade to parrots and corvids—groups renowned for their cognitive abilities—caracaras express key traits linked to cognitive evolution, including large brains, high pallial neuron counts, complex social structures, ecological flexibility, and generalist foraging strategies. This review synthesizes existing behavioral, ecological, and neurological evidence suggesting that caracaras are well-suited for testing hypotheses in both social and physical cognition. Caracaras’ accessibility and behavioral responsiveness in the wild make them exceptionally well-suited for field-based studies, with the potential to address a critical gap in ecologically relevant comparative cognition. We highlight specific opportunities for research and emphasize that caracaras are a promising model for investigating how cognition evolves in response to varied socio-ecological pressures. We conclude that expanding cognitive research to include caracaras will broaden taxonomic representation and may offer broader insights into patterns of cognitive evolution.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02007-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145406336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02004-6
Rachael C. Shaw, Hanne Løvlie
{"title":"Toutouwai display positive judgement bias when tested in the wild","authors":"Rachael C. Shaw, Hanne Løvlie","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02004-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02004-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Cognition, how individuals perceive, store, process and respond to information, influences decision-making. However, biases in cognitive processes can distort behavioural outcomes. Judgement bias occurs when individuals infer information to be more positive, or negative than it is. For captive animals, judgement bias is typically measured by testing behavioural responses to ambiguous cues that are intermediate to cues with learned valence (positive and negative). However, these tests have rarely been used in the wild. We therefore examined if a behavioural test of judgement bias commonly used in captive animals could be adapted to test a wild bird, the toutouwai (North Island robin, <i>Petroica longipes</i>). Toutouwai were faster to approach ambiguous cues that were more similar to a learned positive cue, compared to a learned negative cue. This positive bias mirrors behavioural response patterns observed across a range of species in captivity, including other birds. Responses toward ambiguous cues were repeatable over a short timespan, indicating there was consistent individual variation among our test birds in their degree of bias when judging ambiguous cues. Males tended to approach cues more quickly than females. Our results demonstrate that judgement bias can be tested for in situ in wild birds. However, as is typical of many island species, toutouwai are bold and fearless, which facilitated their participation in our experiment. Therefore, to enable research examining the ecological correlates of judgement biases in nature, we must develop tests of cognitive biases that can be used with a wider range of species in the wild.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02004-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145399725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02011-7
Elif Karakoç, Richard Vogg, Michele Marziliano, Jacob von Petersdorff, Alexander S. Ecker, Peter M. Kappeler, Claudia Fichtel
{"title":"Foraging competence and its impact on social relationships in a socially tolerant wild primate","authors":"Elif Karakoç, Richard Vogg, Michele Marziliano, Jacob von Petersdorff, Alexander S. Ecker, Peter M. Kappeler, Claudia Fichtel","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02011-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02011-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Social interactions are crucial for individual health and ultimately fitness, making the choice of social partners evolutionarily relevant. Previous research has shown that individuals who succeed in foraging tasks often receive increased affiliation from group members. Similarly, in a social learning context, individuals who possess valuable information become more attractive social partners. Thus, an individual’s role in a foraging context, specifically, whether it is a successful producer, can influence its social relationships. To explore this effect, we examined the interplay between social learning, producing and scrounging behavior, and social relationships in four groups of wild red-fronted lemurs (<i>Eulemur rufifrons;</i> N = 29). We conducted an open diffusion experiment with food boxes that required animals to learn one of two techniques to open them. 16 individuals learned to open them. Initial success was better predicted by use of individual than social information, i.e., manipulating the food boxes vs. time spent watching successful individuals or scrounging. Older males were less successful than females. Scrounging occurred in about 26% of events. The technique used, age and sex of the producer did not predict the number of scroungers. Less successful individuals and males scrounged more often. Successful individuals received more affiliative behavior during the experimental period than in the pre-experimental period, which returned to baseline levels during the post-experimental period. Thus, red-fronted lemurs recognize and reward competent foraging partners socially during periods where they can benefit from them immediately. Together, these results highlight the importance of foraging competence for social integration and partner choice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02011-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145399810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02018-0
Vittorio Baglione, Daniela Canestrari, Maddie Cusimano, Benjamin Hoffman, Victor Moreno, Eva Trapote
{"title":"Capturing vocal communication in a free-living corvid: high-resolution data from low-impact miniaturized tags","authors":"Vittorio Baglione, Daniela Canestrari, Maddie Cusimano, Benjamin Hoffman, Victor Moreno, Eva Trapote","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02018-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02018-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Understanding vocal communication is essential to unraveling avian social behavior and cognition; however, audio recording remains particularly challenging in field studies involving wild populations. In this study, we deployed a lightweight, multi-sensor biologging device (MiniDTAG) designed for medium- to large-sized birds. The device integrates a microphone, accelerometer, magnetometer, and pressure sensors into a 12.5 g package, enabling high-fidelity acoustic and behavioral data collection. We deployed 52 MiniDTAGs over three breeding seasons in free-ranging cooperatively breeding carrion crows (<i>Corvus corone</i>) in northern Spain. The auto-releasing attachment method allowed the birds to free themselves from the tag after 18.5 days, on average. We recovered 87% tags, collecting over 83 h of data per device on average. Using a machine learning model (Voxaboxen), we detected over 127,000 vocalizations and assigned them to focal tagged individuals, adult conspecifics, crow chicks, and parasitic great spotted cuckoo nestlings (<i>Clamator glandarius</i>) with high precision and recall. We also explored the potential of accelerometer data to identify specific behaviors within a cooperative context, namely anti-predator mobbing. To evaluate logger impact, we analyzed 825 h of video from 22 crow groups and found minimal effects on brood feeding rates and reproductive success. Our results highlight the MiniDTAG’s potential to advance the study of animal communication by capturing vocalizations across the whole range of amplitudes. This approach opens new avenues for exploring the mechanisms of cooperation and information exchange in complex social systems and lays the groundwork for future comparative studies in corvid communication.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02018-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145399818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02000-w
Eliška Kovářová, Pavel Linhart, Michaela Syrová, Jan Robovský, Nela Urbanová, Petr Veselý
{"title":"Acoustic variation in alarm calls of Corvidae–effect of morphology, ecology and phylogeny","authors":"Eliška Kovářová, Pavel Linhart, Michaela Syrová, Jan Robovský, Nela Urbanová, Petr Veselý","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02000-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02000-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Bioacoustic parameters of vocalization are generally well adapted to the environment that the species inhabits and are influenced by the morphology and life history of the species. These effects are frequently studied on bird songs; however, little is known about how ecology, phylogeny and morphology affect alarm calls. We investigated these factors in the crow family (Corvidae, Passeriformes) that exhibits extensive distribution around the world and is well known for their variable, conspicuous alarm calls. Using a free database of sounds (xeno-canto) as well as own recordings, we collected alarm calls of 66 species representing 21 out of 24 genera within the family. We measured four vocal characteristics, which showed high variability among the family and low mutual correlation – peak frequency, peak frequency change, harmonicity and call duration. The effect of body mass and preferred habitat openness of the species on these four parameters was tested using phylogenetic regression. We also assessed the strength of the phylogenetic signal. Peak frequency, peak frequency change and harmonicity were influenced by phylogeny, while the alarm call duration evolved independently of phylogeny. Body mass significantly affects the mean peak frequency with bigger species producing sounds of lower frequency. Additionally, the openness of the preferred habitat of the species significantly affects the maximum change in peak frequency. Forest species show less peak frequency fluctuation within the alarm call, probably because dense vegetation does not favour good transmission of highly modulated signals. We conclude, that features of corvid alarm calls are affected by similar drivers as e.g. bird song. </p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02000-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145342909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Animal CognitionPub Date : 2025-10-21DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-02003-7
Annika Boussard, Mikaela Ahlkvist, Alberto Corral-López, Stephanie Fong, John Fitzpatrick, Niclas Kolm
{"title":"Collective decision-making under predator threat is faster in guppy shoals selected for larger telencephalon size","authors":"Annika Boussard, Mikaela Ahlkvist, Alberto Corral-López, Stephanie Fong, John Fitzpatrick, Niclas Kolm","doi":"10.1007/s10071-025-02003-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10071-025-02003-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Avoiding predation is essential for most animals. For group-living species, effective predator avoidance relies on making fast and accurate collective decisions. However, the mechanisms underlying the ability to make adaptive collective decisions and to coordinate movements under predation threat remains unclear. Here, we used guppies artificially selected for divergence in the size of the telencephalon, the main brain region for advanced decision-making in vertebrates, to test the influence of telencephalon size on collective decision-making under predation threat. We measured the latency and accuracy of collective decision-making to avoid a model predator in guppy shoals. In addition, we used high-resolution tracking analysis to assess shoaling dynamics under predator threat between the telencephalon size selection lines. We found that collective decision-making latency was shorter in large telencephalon guppy shoals, indicating that variation in telencephalon size can cause variation in the ability to avoid predation. This result is unlikely to be driven by differences in boldness, as several standard tests suggest that there is no difference in boldness between the telencephalon size selection lines. General aspects of shoaling dynamics did not differ between the telencephalon size selected lines. Our study highlights that rapid mosaic changes in brain region size may be an important mechanism behind social behavioural variation with strong fitness implications.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":7879,"journal":{"name":"Animal Cognition","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10071-025-02003-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145336290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}