This project gives students examples of basic skills that many vertebrate species develop as they grow and function in their ecosystem. These activities involve information gathering about surroundings, learning how to use objects, and tracking and searching skills. Different vertebrate species may acquire these skills quickly or slowly, or only acquire a few of the skills; however, it is of special interest to see what commonalities are demonstrated by different vertebrate groups. The class discussion which follows this exercise might be based on whether developing similar abilities is evidence of close evolutionary relationships between the different vertebrate groups, or rather points to convergent evolution (ecological pressures on early sensory, motor, and cognitive abilities in the species). Birds, for instance, have followed a divergent evolutionary track from mammals for 200 million years, but some may still have similar skills to mammals due to ecological pressures in their niches. Students enjoy this project because they are working with their pets as subjects and they will learn more about the pets' abilities and understand how those abilities are useful in the wild. The students also gain practice using the scientific method, designing task presentation, and analyzing data, if the latter is required. They will need to be creative in their experimental design and manage their subject with care so that they will get a spontaneous performance as required by this framework. They are not training their pets to perform tasks, they are simply presenting an opportunity for the pet to indicate its natural abilities. This behavioral study may be used for a Science Fair project or Independent Project or class lab (with data collected from home). It has been tested with high school and college classes in biology and psychology. Species successfully tested have been: dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, a veiled chameleon, and last (but not least), human infants (two years or less)! Use of lab animals is not recommended because subjects should be relaxed and friendly and not distracted by the investigators. Background Jean Piaget a noted developmental psychologist (whose early training was as a biologist), observed his own children's early behaviors, suggesting that they were really constructing their world as they explored their surroundings and new objects and relationships (1954). He described dozens of activities that he said were universally performed by young children two years old or less and these activities have indeed been replicated in assessments of young children using the scales in Uzgiris and Hunt (1989) in a variety of cultures. The particular activities in this exercise were chosen because 1) they seem most appropriate for various vertebrate species to perform, and 2) they are not difficult to assess. The activities measure the abilities listed below. Object Permanence Object Permanence is a functional sense that an object exists independently: it can be moved and even hidden from sight but it still exists and remains the same object (see Figure 1). Infants successfully search for an object they have seen being hidden by eight months of age. The development of young chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans (all closely related to humans) follows the course of development in human infants (Vauclair, 1996). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Spatial Relations Spatial relations include grasping and exploring objects, observing objects alternately, localizing a sound, making detours, putting objects in and out of containers, and knowing the whereabouts of familiar objects or of others (see Figure 2). Learning what objects can be used for, directing attention to alternate events, finding the source of a sound, and recognizing absence of others are all basic skills, but important as a foundation for further learning. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Using the scientific method, students will compare the behavior of their vertebrate pets in these activities with behaviors shown by young children. …