Abstract
Western scrub-jays are known for their highly discriminatory and flexible behaviors in a caching (food storing) context. However, it is unknown whether their cognitive abilities are restricted to a caching context. To explore this question, we tested scrub-jays in a non-caching context using the Aesop’s Fable paradigm, where a partially filled tube of water contains a floating food reward and objects must be inserted to displace the water and bring the food within reach. We tested four birds, but only two learned to drop stones proficiently. Of these, one bird participated in 4/5 experiments and one in 2/5 experiments. Both birds passed one experiment, but without attending to the functional differences of the objects, and failed the other experiments. Scrub-jays were not motivated to participate in these experiments, suggesting that either this paradigm was ecologically irrelevant or perhaps their flexibility is restricted to a caching context.
Highlights
Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica; hereafter referred to as scrub-jays) are known for their highly discriminatory and flexible behaviors in a caching context
Clear tubes that are partially filled with water contain a floating food reward that can only be reached by inserting objects into the tube to raise the water
Three wild adult male Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) were caught using Potter traps baited with peanuts in southern California (July–August 2013), and one female nestling (BB; an adult at the time of these experiments) was taken from the nest in the summer of 2012 and hand-raised
Summary
Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica; hereafter referred to as scrub-jays) are known for their highly discriminatory and flexible behaviors in a caching (food storing) context. Scrub-jays prefer to recover perishable food items sooner than non-perishable items (Clayton, Yu & Dickinson, 2001), they plan what they want for breakfast the morning (Raby et al, 2007), and scrub-jays with prior experience stealing other’s caches use cache protection strategies (Dally, Emery & Clayton, 2006, see review in Grodzinski & Clayton, 2010) It is unknown whether such abilities are restricted to a caching context—the context in which these abilities evolved (Grodzinski & Clayton, 2010). To begin to answer this question, we tested scrub-jays in a non-caching context using the Aesop’s Fable paradigm In this paradigm, clear tubes that are partially filled with water contain a floating food reward that can only be reached by inserting objects into the tube to raise the water.
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