What is it like to hear quantities? Testing dolphins on classic number estimation using a sonar setup.

The featured article by Sakurai and Tomonaga (2024) in this issue has set out to test to what extent dolphins can estimate relative differences between pairs of object numbers by echolocation. For this they used three consecutive experiments with multiple controls and compared their data statistically to existing data from visual experiments done on other species. Previous studies already indicate that dolphins can visually estimate relative numerosity (e.

Goffin's cockatoos use object mass but not balance cues when making object transport decisions.

Utilising weight cues can improve the efficiency of foraging behaviours by providing information on nutritional value, material strength, and tool functionality. Attending to weight cues may also facilitate the optimisation of object transport. Though some animals' ability to assess weight cues has been determined, research into whether they can apply weight assessment during practical decision making is limited.

Mechanical Problem Solving in Goffin's Cockatoos-Towards Modeling Complex Behavior.

Goffin's cockatoos () can solve a diverse set of mechanical problems, such as tool use, tool manufacture, and mechanical puzzles. However, the proximate mechanisms underlying this adaptive behavior are largely unknown. Similarly, engineering artificial agents that can as flexibly solve such mechanical puzzles is still a substantial challenge in areas such as robotics.

Long-term memory in wild falcons.

Long-term memory - information retention over long timescales - can allow animals to retain foraging skills and efficiently respond to seasonally available resources and changing environments. Most long-term memory research is with captive species, focusing on spatial, individual or object recognition, with less known about wild species and the retention of motor task abilities, as in the case of complex foraging skills. We have examined whether wild striated caracaras (Phalcoboenus australis), recently shown to rapidly and flexibly innovate with an eight-task puzzle box, retain task memories one year later.

Within the sound of trouble: Do humans use pitch to correctly assess emotional arousal across species?

Comments on an article by Jay W. Schwartz , Kayleigh H. Pierson, and Alexander K.

The effect of four different object properties on latency to approach in Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana).

Neophobia and neophilia can be lifesaving as they can facilitate foraging while avoiding predation or intoxication. We investigated the extent to which Goffin's cockatoos () exhibit ecollogically relevant and quantifiable neophobic responses toward specific object properties. Twelve cockatoos were presented with 12 novel objects grouped into four distinct categories with unique features: size, color, reflective capacity, and shape.

Have we met? New insights into the role of head and body cues in the visual recognition of conspecifics in gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus).

Prikrylová et al. (see record 2023-79461-001) contribute a paper to this issue in which they tested two-dimensional individual recognition of familiar subjects in African gray parrots. They not only tested familiar individual recognition per se but also the effect of manipulating individual and combined features in the head and the body of their stimuli.

Innovative problem solving by wild falcons.

Innovation (i.e., a new solution to a familiar problem, or applying an existing behavior to a novel problem) plays a fundamental role in species' ecology and evolution.

Ratcheting up tool innovation in Goffin's cockatoos (): The effect of contextually diverse prior experience.

The ability to gain information from one situation, acquire new skills and/or perfect existing ones, and subsequently apply them to a new situation is a key element in behavioural flexibility and a hallmark of innovation. A flexible agent is expected to store these skills and apply them to contexts different from that in which learning occurred. Goffin's cockatoos () are highly innovative parrots renowned for their problem-solving and tool-using skills and are thus excellent candidates to study this phenomenon.

Flexible tool set transport in Goffin's cockatoos.

The use of tool sets constitutes one of the most elaborate examples of animal technology, and reports of it in nature are limited to chimpanzees and Goffin's cockatoos. Although tool set use in Goffin's was only recently discovered, we know that chimpanzees flexibly transport tool sets, depending on their need. Flexible tool set transport can be considered full evidence for identification of a genuine tool set, as the selection of the second tool is not just a response to the outcomes of the use of the first tool but implies recognizing the need for both tools before using any of them (thus, categorizing both tools together as a tool set).

Recent developments in parrot cognition: a quadrennial update.

Psittacines, along with corvids, are commonly referred to as 'feathered apes' due to their advanced cognitive abilities. Until rather recently, the research effort on parrot cognition was lagging behind that on corvids, however current developments show that the number of parrot studies is steadily increasing. In 2018, M.

The Innovation Arena: A Method for Comparing Innovative Problem-Solving Across Groups.

Problem-solving tasks are commonly used to investigate technical, innovative behavior but a comparison of this ability across a broad range of species is a challenging undertaking. Specific predispositions, such as the morphological toolkit of a species or exploration techniques, can substantially influence performance in such tasks, which makes direct comparisons difficult. The method presented here was developed to be more robust with regard to such species-specific differences: the Innovation Arena presents 20 different problem-solving tasks.

Innovative composite tool use by Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana).

Composite tool use (using more than one tool simultaneously to achieve an end) has played a significant role in the development of human technology. Typically, it depends on a number of specific and often complex spatial relations and there are thus very few reported cases in non-human animals (e.g.

Current Understanding of the "Insight" Phenomenon Across Disciplines.

Despite countless anecdotes and the historical significance of insight as a problem solving mechanism, its nature has long remained elusive. The conscious experience of insight is notoriously difficult to trace in non-verbal animals. Although studying insight has presented a significant challenge even to neurobiology and psychology, human neuroimaging studies have cleared the theoretical landscape, as they have begun to reveal the underlying mechanisms.

Goffin's cockatoos discriminate objects based on weight alone.

Paying attention to weight is important when deciding upon an object's efficacy or value in various contexts (e.g. tool use, foraging).

Wild Goffin's cockatoos flexibly manufacture and use tool sets.

The use of different tools to achieve a single goal is considered unique to human and primate technology. To unravel the origins of such complex behaviors, it is crucial to investigate tool use that is not necessary for a species' survival. These cases can be assumed to have emerged innovatively and be applied flexibly, thus emphasizing creativity and intelligence.

Goffin's Cockatoos () Can Solve a Novel Problem After Conflicting Past Experiences.

Novel problems often partially overlap with familiar ones. Some features match the qualities of previous situations stored in long-term memory and therefore trigger their retrieval. Using relevant, while inhibiting irrelevant, memories to solve novel problems is a hallmark of behavioral flexibility in humans and has recently been demonstrated in great apes.

Extending the Reach of Tooling Theory: A Neurocognitive and Phylogenetic Perspective.

Tool use research has suffered from a lack of consistent theoretical frameworks. There is a plethora of tool use definitions and the most widespread ones are so inclusive that the behaviors that fall under them arguably do not have much in common. The situation is aggravated by the prevalence of anecdotes, which have played an undue role in the literature.

String-pulling in the Goffin's cockatoo (Cacatua goffiniana).

Goffin's cockatoos, a parrot species endemic to the Tanimbar Islands in Indonesia, demonstrate remarkable cognitive skills across various technical tasks. These neophilic extractive foragers explore objects with their beak and feet, and are skilled in several modes of tool use. In this study, we confronted the animals for the first time with a vertical string-pulling setup, including a set of classic and novel controls.

Using an Innovation Arena to compare wild-caught and laboratory Goffin's cockatoos.

The ability to innovate, i.e., to exhibit new or modified learned behaviours, can facilitate adaptation to environmental changes or exploiting novel resources.

Orangutans (Pongo abelii) make flexible decisions relative to reward quality and tool functionality in a multi-dimensional tool-use task.

Making economic decisions in a natural foraging situation that involves the use of tools may require an animal to consider more levels of relational complexity than merely deciding between an immediate and a delayed food option. We used the same method previously used with Goffin´s cockatoos to investigate the orangutans' flexibility for making the most profitable decisions when confronted with five different settings that included one or two different apparatuses, two different tools and two food items (one more preferred than the other). We found that orangutans made profitable decisions relative to reward quality, when the task required the subjects to select a tool over an immediately accessible food reward.

The keybox: Shape-frame fitting during tool use in Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana).

The ability to move an object in alignment to a surface develops early in human ontogeny. However, aligning not just your own body but also the object itself in relation to a surface with a specific shape requires using landmarks rather than the own body as a frame of reference for orientation. The ability to do so is considered important in the development of tool use behaviour in human and non-human animals.