Abstract
The trap tube is a classic test of causal reasoning abilities in animals in the physical domain. Recently, a modified version of this task improved its diagnostic capacity and allowed testing of non-tool-using animals. We used this modified two-trap tube task to compare the cognition of two Darwin’s finch species: the woodpecker finch, Cactospiza pallida, a tool-using species, and the small tree finch, Camarhynchus parvulus, a closely related non-tool-using species. Not all woodpecker finches use tools in nature, and we therefore also tested non-tool-using individuals to assess the effect of experience on trap tube performance. No small tree finches and only two non-tool-using woodpecker finches solved the initial task which was operated using a pre-inserted piston. One tool-using woodpecker finch solved the task when allowed to use its own tool instead of the pre-inserted piston. The fact that none of these subjects transferred their knowledge when the features of the task changed, suggests that in this species, neither experience using tools nor the genetic composition of a tool-user are associated with the general physical cognitive skills required to solve the trap tube task.
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Acknowledgments
IT was supported by the German research foundation (DFG, Project Nr. TE628/1-1) and ST by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, Project Nr. V95-B17). The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were carried out. We are thankful to the Charles Darwin Research Station for support and TAME for reduced ticket fares. We are also grateful to Dr. Birgit Fessl for support in all facets of this study. Caroline Raby, Viviana Morales, Mari Cruz Jaramillo, Tania Quisingo Chiza, Paola Buitron Lopez, and Eduardo Sandoval provided valuable field assistance and help with experiments. Patrick Meidl provided vital support in organizing vast amounts of data. Thanks to Andy Burnley for constructing experimental apparatus and to Sue-Anne Zollinger for helping to make the figure depicting the experimental apparatus.
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Teschke, I., Tebbich, S. Physical cognition and tool-use: performance of Darwin’s finches in the two-trap tube task. Anim Cogn 14, 555–563 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-011-0390-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-011-0390-9