PROBLEM SOLVING AND SOCIAL LEARNING IN THE BIRD OF PREY MILVAGO CHIMANGO (FALCONIFORMES)

BIONDI, LAURA, MARÍA SUSANA BÓ AND ALDO VASSALLO

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Congreso; 14th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Comparative Psychology; 2008

International Society for Comparative Psychology

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:ES; mso-no-proof:yes;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Behavioural innovation and the transmision of new behaviours via social learning is asumed to have significant fitness consequences and ramifications for the invasion and consturction of new niches, and therefore may have important evolutionary consequences. Recently, the raptor Milvago chimango has become common in modified environments and urban areas taking advantage of resources generated by human activities. For this reason, we conducted experimental studies in aviaries which showed that M. chimango have a remarkable ability to solve a novel feeding problem (a good estimator of innovation), also revealing that age classes behaved different in front to novel situations. In general young birds were more explorative, had a lower neophobic response to a novel object and coped with a novel feeding problem with a better performance than adults. Another test demostrated that after observing a trained conspecific opening an opaque box filled with food, naïve individuals acceded to it. Previous control sessions showed that naïve individuals failed to recognize the box as a food resource in absence of a conspecific demonstrator. We argue social transmission of newly acquired behaviors are of importance for species, i. e. M. chimango, which inhabit changing environments and have to colonize new areas, like urban settings.