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A test of "object permanence" in Paridae and effect of neophobia and individual explorative strategies on success in solving object permanence tasks
Marhounová, Lucie ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence (OP) is a cognitive ability that enables animals to mentally represent the existence of hidden objects even if they can not be perceived by senses. In humans, OP develops during six qualitative stages, in which the understanding of relationships between objects in space and time changes. Current research shows that primates, some carnivores and several species of birds also acquire various degrees of this ability depending on their social life and foraging strategies. Many studies of OP have focused on food-storing birds but yet only in the Corvidae family. Therefore we decided to test this ability in two species of the Paridae family, food-storing coal tit (Periparus ater, N=23) and non-storing great tit (Parus major, N=24) to find out which stage they can achieve and whether there is a difference between these species in relation to their caching ability. Our results suggest that food-storing coal tits search for completely hidden objects significantly better than great tits. Most of the great tits were not able to solve this task. However, the upper limit for both species is probably Stage 4 because coal tits probably solved OP tasks with more screens randomly or used alternative strategies rather than mental representation. Substantial interindividual variability in the...
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Exploration, neophobia and dietary conservatism in tits (Paridae)
Beranová, Eliška ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Fučíková, Eva (referee)
Neophobia and exploratory behaviour are two processes applied in great measure in birds' reactions towards novel stimuli. The specific demonstration of these two processes may differ between different species of birds as well as within them. We compared neophobia and exploratory behaviour in two species of tits (Paridae). Adult Great tits (Parus major) and Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) did not differ neither in exploring novel environment and novel object nor in neophobia towards novel object near food. We have found great differences between juveniles of these two species. Juvenile Blue tits were more neophobic towards both novel objects. Age, sex and personality affected some differences within tested species. We tested whether there exist any differences in reactions towards novel food between and within species. We used red painted mealworm (larvae of Tenebrio molitor), house cricket (Acheta domestica) and aposematic bug (Pyrrhocoris apterus) as novel food. Adult wild-caught tits with plentiful experience with various feeds did not differ in reaction towards these types of novel food. In contrast hand-reared juvenile tits differed quite a lot. Juvenile Blue tits were more neophobic than juvenile Great tits towards all three types of novel food. We found dieraty conservatism, phenomenon...
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Neophobia, neophilia, and dietary conservatism in birds
Beranová, Eliška ; Hotová Svádová, Kateřina (referee) ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor)
Birds` reactions towards novelty are demonstrated by two significant processes - neophobia and neophilia. These reactions often vary according to specific type of novel stimulus. Differences in levels of neophobia and neophilia enable birds to deal with potential costs and benefits arising from encountering a novel stimulus. Reactions towards novelty in birds may vary between different species as well as within them. In between species variability in levels of neophobia/neophilia may be related to dietary strategy and lifestyle. Differences in neophobia/neophilia of an individual bird may be related to sex, age, and personality. Long-term avoidance of novel food - dietary conservatism may follow the initial food neophobia. Again it varies a lot between species as well as within them. Key words: neophobia, neophilia, dietary conservatism, novel stimulus, novel object, novel food
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