Behavioural Flexibility in a Neotropical Raptor, the Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango: Understanding its Adaptability to Urban Environments

BIONDI L. M.; BONETTI, E.A.; PATERLINI, C.A.; BALZA, U.; BO MARIA SUSANA

Congreso; Raptor Research Foundation 2022 Annual Conference; 2022

Anthropic activities generate new selective pressures on organisms, potentially leading to a phenotypic differentiation between urban and non-urban populations in a wide range of species. Behavioural flexibility and associated cognitive abilities are considered key to adapting to urban environments, allowing organisms to take advantage of novel opportunities and respond efficiently to new challenges. However, interindividual cognitive differences may result from variations in personality traits. These traits are markers of different "cognitive styles" or strategies by which organisms acquire, store, and use information from their environment. Although different types of personality associated with urban environments have been determined, it is not clear how the cognition-personality relationship is manifested in the organisms occupying these environments. From the above, this paper presents the analysis of the relationship between the cognitive and personality mechanisms that determine behavioural flexibility, as well as its variation in urban and rural bird populations, using a Neotropical bird of prey, the Chimango Caracara, Milvago chimango, as a model species. Given the recent population increase of this raptor in cities, understanding the personality-cognition dynamic helps to interpret the consequences of different cognitive styles in response to the urbanization process.