New Caledonian crows rapidly solve a collaborative problem without cooperative cognition
Abstract
There is growing comparative evidence that the cognitive bases of cooperation are not unique to humans. However, the selective pressures that lead to the evolution of these mechanisms remain unclear. Here we show that while tool-making New Caledonian crows can produce collaborative behavior, they do not understand the causality of cooperation nor show sensitivity to inequity. Instead, the collaborative behavior produced appears to have been underpinned by the transfer of prior experience. These results suggest that a number of possible selective pressures, including tool manufacture and mobbing behaviours, have not led to the evolution of cooperative cognition in this species. They show that causal cognition can evolve in a domain specific manner-understanding the properties and flexible uses of physical tools does not necessarily enable animals to grasp that a conspecific can be used as a social tool.
Citation
Jelbert , S A , Singh , P J , Gray , R D & Taylor , A H 2015 , ' New Caledonian crows rapidly solve a collaborative problem without cooperative cognition ' , PLoS One , vol. 10 , no. 8 , 0133253 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133253
Publication
PLoS One
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1932-6203Type
Journal article
Description
his work was supported by a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship (S.A.J.), a University of Auckland Master's Scholarship (P.J.S.), a Research Fellowship (Corpus Christi college, University of Cambridge), Cogito Foundation grant and a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (A.H.T.), and a grant from the New Zealand Marsden Fund (A.H.T. and R.D.G.).Collections
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