Bringing the falcon family into comparative cognitive research: striated caracara as a mode

KATIE HARRINGTON; LAURA BIONDI; ULISES BALZA; MEGAN LAMBERT

Groningen

Conferencia; European Conference on Behavioural Biology; 2022

University of Groningen

The social brain Comparative cognitive ecologists aim to understand the selective pressures that give riseto cognitive abilities. In mammals, a wide range of distinct taxa have been investigated, while most aviancognitive work has been limited to passerines (e.g., corvids, parids) and parrots (e.g., kea). Despitemodern gene sequencing that has revealed falconids are a sister clade to parrots and songbirds (i.e.,proposed clade Eufalconimorphae), falconids have not yet been widely considered as candidates forcognitive research. Striated caracara (Falconiformes, Phalcoboenus australis) are a little-studied, nearthreatened species of conservation concern that inhabit the outer Falkland Islands and the southern tip ofSouth America. The species exhibits many of the life history traits typically correlated with cognitivecapabilities, including extended juvenile period, delayed sexual maturity, and long lifespan. They alsoshare behavioral characteristics that have long been suggested as preconditions for cognitive abilities,including a fission fusion social system, cooperative behavior, and a generalist-opportunist foragingstrategy. Moreover, they are island-restricted and have adapted to survive in a harsh sub-Antarcticenvironment, contexts that has been hypothesized to favor cognitive abilities. They are widely recognizedby falconers and conservationists as social, intelligent, approachable, and inquisitive birds. In the speciesstronghold of the Falklands, individuals can be easily trapped, individually marked, and relocated overtime. To expand our understanding of the socioecological conditions necessary for specific cognitiveabilities to emerge across taxa, we therefore propose striated caracara as a model system for futurecognitive ecology research. In this poster, we review in detail the ecological pressures and behavioralcharacteristics of striated caracara that have been long suggested for cognitive abilities.