TY - JOUR

T1 - Cooperative problem solving in giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) and Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea)

AU - Schmelz, Martin

AU - Duguid, Shona

AU - Bohn, Manuel

AU - Völter, Christoph J.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements Open access funding provided by Max Planck Society. We thank the Zoo Leipzig, particularly Kerstin Tischmeyer, Christian Patzer, Michael Ernst and Fabian Schmidt, for the access to the otters, and we are very grateful for the pleasant collaborative experience. We thank Sebastian Schütte and Johannes Grossmann for their help with the apparatus, Mathias Harrer and Tjadina Klein for coding assistance and especially Roger Mundry for the statistical analysis. Publisher Copyright: © 2017, The Author(s).

PY - 2017/11/1

Y1 - 2017/11/1

N2 - Cooperative problem solving has gained a lot of attention over the past two decades, but the range of species studied is still small. This limits the possibility of understanding the evolution of the socio-cognitive underpinnings of cooperation. Lutrinae show significant variations in socio-ecology, but their cognitive abilities are not well studied. In the first experimental study of otter social cognition, we presented two species—giant otters and Asian small-clawed otters—with a cooperative problem-solving task. The loose string task requires two individuals to simultaneously pull on either end of a rope in order to access food. This task has been used with a larger number of species (for the most part primates and birds) and thus allows for wider cross-species comparison. We found no differences in performance between species. Both giant otters and Asian small-clawed otters were able to solve the task successfully when the coordination requirements were minimal. However, when the temporal coordination demands were increased, performance decreased either due to a lack of understanding of the role of a partner or due to difficulty inhibiting action. In conclusion, two species of otters show some ability to cooperate, quite similar to most other species presented with the same task. However, to draw further conclusions and more nuanced comparisons between the two otter species, further studies with varied methodologies will be necessary.

AB - Cooperative problem solving has gained a lot of attention over the past two decades, but the range of species studied is still small. This limits the possibility of understanding the evolution of the socio-cognitive underpinnings of cooperation. Lutrinae show significant variations in socio-ecology, but their cognitive abilities are not well studied. In the first experimental study of otter social cognition, we presented two species—giant otters and Asian small-clawed otters—with a cooperative problem-solving task. The loose string task requires two individuals to simultaneously pull on either end of a rope in order to access food. This task has been used with a larger number of species (for the most part primates and birds) and thus allows for wider cross-species comparison. We found no differences in performance between species. Both giant otters and Asian small-clawed otters were able to solve the task successfully when the coordination requirements were minimal. However, when the temporal coordination demands were increased, performance decreased either due to a lack of understanding of the role of a partner or due to difficulty inhibiting action. In conclusion, two species of otters show some ability to cooperate, quite similar to most other species presented with the same task. However, to draw further conclusions and more nuanced comparisons between the two otter species, further studies with varied methodologies will be necessary.

KW - Asian small-clawed otter

KW - Cooperation

KW - Giant otter

KW - Loose string task

KW - Lutrinae

KW - Social cognition

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028322485&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10071-017-1126-2

DO - 10.1007/s10071-017-1126-2

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 28840405

AN - SCOPUS:85028322485

VL - 20

SP - 1107

EP - 1114

JO - Animal Cognition

JF - Animal Cognition

SN - 1435-9448

IS - 6

ER -