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- Title
A new method for studying problem solving and tool use in stingrays ( Potamotrygon castexi).
- Authors
Kuba, Michael J.; Byrne, Ruth A.; Burghardt, Gordon M.
- Abstract
Testing the cognitive abilities of cartilaginous fishes is important in understanding the evolutionary origins of cognitive functions in higher vertebrates. We used five South American fresh water stingrays ( Potamotrygon castexi) in a learning and problem-solving task. A tube test apparatus was developed to provide a simple but sophisticated procedure for testing cognitive abilities of aquatic animals. All five subjects quickly learned to use water as a tool to extract food from the testing apparatus. The experimental protocol, which gave the animals the opportunity of correcting a wrong visual cue decision, resulted in four out of five subjects correcting an error rather than making an initial right choice. One of five subjects reached 100% correct trials in the visual discrimination task. The ability to use water as an agent to extract food from the testing apparatus is a first indication of tool use in batoid fishes. Performance in the instrumental task of retrieving food from a novel testing apparatus and the rapid learning in the subsequent discrimination/error correction task shows that cartilaginous fish can be used to study the origins of cognitive functions in the vertebrate lineage.
- Subjects
STINGRAYS; CHONDRICHTHYES; POTAMOTRYGON; COGNITIVE ability; AQUATIC animals
- Publication
Animal Cognition, 2010, Vol 13, Issue 3, p507
- ISSN
1435-9448
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10071-009-0301-5