Page 50 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

22 2 The Cognitive Abilities of Wild Animals

VetBooks.ir set of circumstances, those that have studied (Vedder 1984); specifically, gorillas revisited
regions more often that were associated with
OFT might ask what food items are available
and valuable and can help predict how long
have included great tits (Cowie 1977), white‐
an animal may remain in a specific food patch. a greater renewal rate of foods. Other species
OFT has been demonstrated with numer- throated sparrows (Schneider 1984), little
ous species in the wild. Given what we have penguins (Ropert‐Coudert et al. 2006), and
discussed earlier about the unpredictability bluegill sunfish (Werner and Hall 1974).
of obtaining food during foraging, animals
must decide what type of food to eat, based
on not only size and caloric intake of the food 2.5 Learning from Others: Social
item, but also the energy cost of obtaining Cognition and Learning
that food item; that is, animals need to decide
about the profitability of a foraging choice. Animals learn a great deal of valuable infor-
This is especially true for predators that must mation from conspecifics in the wild. Imagine
engage considerable effort to locate and if one had to learn everything by trial and
successfully take down a prey animal. For error or through direct manipulation of the
example, the depth and length of blue whales’ environment; in such cases, animals could
(Balaenoptera musculus) foraging dives only learn how to hunt, forage, construct
compensate for longer transit times between habitats, communicate and navigate through
food patches and optimise resource acquisi- their surroundings, all things required for
tion; short shallow dives yielded the highest survival, by successfully engaging in that
feeding rates (Doniol‐Valcroze et al. 2011). task themselves. While some individuals may
Bottlenose dolphins use various types of syn- successfully learn these behaviours through
chronous behaviours in the wild in order to trial and error, we would suspect that many
catch prey; in Shark Bay, Australia, for exam- individuals do not succeed in performing
ple, dolphins perform ‘kerplunking’ by mak- behaviours as well or as quickly as we might
ing a loud splash with their tails, as a foraging expect (if at all). Learning information or
strategy that may stun prey (Connor et al. behaviours by observing others is therefore
2000). Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) prefer to adaptive for many species.
kill prey species that are most abundant, It is important to keep in mind, that
medium‐sized, and can be consumed before although there are many ways in which an
kleptoparasites arrive; furthermore, the mor- animal can use information from other indi-
phological adaptations of the cheetah appear viduals (e.g. social facilitation, stimulus and
to have evolved to specifically hunt species local enhancement), it is important to be able
like Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles and to distinguish these cases from formal types
impala with minimal risk of injury (Hayward of social learning (e.g. observational learn-
et al. 2006). For prey animals such as ungu- ing, imitation, emulation, and cultural trans-
lates, optimal foraging must also involve mission) (Galef 2012).
minimising predation risk (Kie 1999). Plains
bison (Bos bison bison) search for food and 2.5.1 Social Facilitation
move between suitable food patches in ways
that are highly influenced by environmental Social facilitation is considered to be an
conditions such as snowfall (Fortin 2003). involuntary or automatic process in which an
Mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) increase in responding occurs due to simply
have also been shown to alter their ranging being in close proximity to other individuals
patterns based on both the distribution and (usually, but not always, a conspecific)
abundance of food, and these patterns change (Zentall and Galef 2013). When a herd of wil-
at different times of the year that influence debeest collectively flee in response to an
the quality of the food in their habitats approaching lion, birds feeding in flocks, or a