Abstract
Urbanization represents a dramatic form of evolutionary novelty in the landscapes inhabited by many extant animals. The Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis suggests that innovation, the process by which animals solve novel problems or use novel behaviors, may be key for many animals when adapting to novel environments. If innovation is especially beneficial in urban environments, then we would expect urban animals to be more innovative than their non-urban counterparts. However, studies comparing innovative problem-solving between urban and rural habitats have produced mixed results. Here, we hypothesized that these findings result from comparing only two levels of urbanization when related research suggests that the stage of invasion of urban habitats likely has a strong effect on demand for innovation, with demand being highest during early establishment in a novel environment. To test this hypothesis, we assessed innovation in three locations where spotted hyenas experienced varying degrees of urbanization. Spotted hyenas are relatively innovative compared to other carnivores and, although many large carnivores in Africa are endangered, spotted hyenas remain abundant both inside and outside protected areas. We measured innovation with a multi-access puzzle box with four different doors through which hyenas could obtain a food reward. We predicted that hyenas in a transitional, rapidly urbanizing habitat would be more innovative, measured by the number of unique doors opened, than those in rural or fully urban habitats. Contrary to our predictions, hyenas in the rural habitat were the most innovative. These results challenge the idea that the evolutionary novelty associated with urbanization favors greater innovativeness.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) repository, [https://doi.org/10.5063/9C6VTD].
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Kenyan National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Narok County Government, the Mara Conservancy, Brian Heath, James Sindiyo, the Naibosho Conservancy, and Mekelle University for permissions to conduct this research. This work was conducted under research permit no. NACOSTI/P/16/35513/10422, issued by the Kenyan National Commission on Science, Technology and Innovation. We also thank the many former graduate students and research assistants on the Mara Hyena Project who contributed to data collection and video coding. We thank Roy Bailiff at MSU Engineering for constructing the multi-access box.
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This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (OISE1853934, IOS1755089) to KEH, by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP) to LJU, and by a Grant-in-Aid of Research (GIAR) award to LJU from the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB).
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LJU and KEH conceived the project. LJU and KEH designed the methodology. LJU, GY, RLS, and KEH collected data. LJU and KEH analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. GY and RLS edited the manuscript.
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This work was conducted under research permit no. NACOSTI/P/16/35513/10422, issued by the Kenyan National Commission on Science, Technology and Innovation. The data collection procedure followed here was also approved by the Michigan State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC): AUF #04/16–050-00. All research procedures were designed to adhere to the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) Guidelines for the use of wild mammals in research and education (Sikes 2016) and to the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB) Ethics Committee and the Animal Behaviour Society (ABS) Animal Care Committee Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioral research and teaching (2017). Subjects in all locations are habituated to the presence vehicles and vehicles served as mobile blinds to hide researchers from view during deployment and collection of the MAB. Hyena participation in trials with the MAB was entirely voluntary, but encouraged with the use of bait. Researchers took care to remain at least 5 m from hyenas when collecting the MAB, and the MAB was not collected until all hyenas had moved at least 5 m away. However, hyenas regularly approached stationary vehicles at much closer distances.
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Johnson-Ulrich, L., Yirga, G., Strong, R.L. et al. The effect of urbanization on innovation in spotted hyenas. Anim Cogn 24, 1027–1038 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01494-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01494-4