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A new method for studying problem solving and tool use in stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi)

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Abstract

Testing the cognitive abilities of cartilaginous fishes is important in understanding the evolutionary origins of cognitive functions in higher vertebrates. We used five South American fresh water stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi) in a learning and problem-solving task. A tube test apparatus was developed to provide a simple but sophisticated procedure for testing cognitive abilities of aquatic animals. All five subjects quickly learned to use water as a tool to extract food from the testing apparatus. The experimental protocol, which gave the animals the opportunity of correcting a wrong visual cue decision, resulted in four out of five subjects correcting an error rather than making an initial right choice. One of five subjects reached 100% correct trials in the visual discrimination task. The ability to use water as an agent to extract food from the testing apparatus is a first indication of tool use in batoid fishes. Performance in the instrumental task of retrieving food from a novel testing apparatus and the rapid learning in the subsequent discrimination/error correction task shows that cartilaginous fish can be used to study the origins of cognitive functions in the vertebrate lineage.

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Acknowledgments

The authors of this study want to thank the zoo of Vienna for providing the animals. We would especially like to thank E Wolf, A Weissenbacher and R Halbbauer at the zoo of Vienna for their help and cooperation during this study. We want to express our special gratitude to E Sonntag of the Detroit zoo who used food containing plastic pipes as a behavioral enrichment for the stingrays housed at the Detroit zoo. This example gave rise to our idea to create a pipe-like testing apparatus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Life Sciences, Department of Neurobiology and Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Jerusalem, Israel

    Michael J. Kuba

  2. Abteilung für Rheumatologie, Klinik für Innere Medizin III, Medizinische Universität Wien, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Ruth A. Byrne

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Gordon M. Burghardt

Authors
  1. Michael J. Kuba
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  2. Ruth A. Byrne
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  3. Gordon M. Burghardt
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Correspondence to Michael J. Kuba.

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This file is unfortunately not in the Publisher's archive anymore: Supplementary material 1 (DIVX 2136 kb). Animal 2 choosing the correct side of the tasting apparatus. The correct side to extract the food is marked by white tape

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Kuba, M.J., Byrne, R.A. & Burghardt, G.M. A new method for studying problem solving and tool use in stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi). Anim Cogn 13, 507–513 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-009-0301-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-009-0301-5

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