ORCID Profile
0000-0003-3273-6568
Current Organisations
University of Bern
,
Universitat Bern
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-02-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S10071-023-01751-8
Abstract: Self-recognition is the ability to recognise stimuli originating from oneself. Humans and some non-human animals show evidence of true visual self-recognition in the mirror test. They use their reflection to inspect themselves and to remove a mark that is only visible in the mirror. Not all animals, however, rely primarily on vision. In lizards, chemical cues are crucial in social interactions, and therefore, lizards would benefit from a chemical self-other distinction. Here, we test the tokay gecko ( Gekko gecko ), a social species, on their ability to discriminate their own skin and faecal chemicals from those of same-sex, unfamiliar conspecifics. We predicted that in iduals would show more self-directed behaviour when confronted with the chemicals from unfamiliar in iduals within their home enclosure as a sign of the need for increased comparison. Geckos showed higher self-directed responses towards chemicals from unfamiliar in iduals compared to self-produced chemicals and a water control. Furthermore, scat and skin chemicals (regardless of origin) elicited similar but stronger responses than peppermint oil pointing towards a possible social function of scat piles. Although further tests and controls are needed, our study provides evidence towards chemical self-recognition and for a social function of scat piling in tokay geckos.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-07-2013
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12116
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-09-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S10071-022-01693-7
Abstract: Neophobia, the fear of novelty, is an ecologically important response which enables animals to avoid potentially harmful situations. Neophobia is a cognitive process by which in iduals distinguish novelty from familiarity. In this study, we aimed to quantify this cognitive process in captive tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) across three contexts: when encountering novel prey, foraging near novel objects and entering a novel space. We also investigated in idual consistency across trials using different novel stimuli, and correlation of in idual responses across the three contexts. We found that geckos hesitate to attack novel prey and prey close to objects (familiar and novel). Geckos hesitated the most when entering novel space. Repeatability of behaviour within and across contexts was low ( R = 0.101–0.190) indicating that neophobia might not be expressed similarly across contexts. The strength of a neophobic response can indicate how anxious or curious an in idual is. This test has great potential to help answer questions about how captivity, enrichment, rearing environment and cognition affect fear responses in different contexts in lizards. By studying reptiles, we can better understand the universality of what is known about the causes leading to difference in neophobia across in iduals and species.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.BEPROC.2022.104749
Abstract: To make decisions, animals gather information from the environment in order to avoid costs (e.g., reduced survival) and increase benefits (e.g., foraging success). When time is limited or information is insufficient, most animals face a speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) - they have to balance the benefits of making quick decisions against the costs of inaccurate decisions. Here, we investigated the relationship between decision accuracy and decision speed in gidgee skinks (Egernia stokesii) performing a food-based spontaneous quantity discrimination task. Rather than a SAT we found a speed-accuracy alignment lizards made decisions that were fast and accurate, rather than inaccurate. Furthermore, we found only within-, but no between-in idual differences in decision making indicating behavioural plasticity in the absence of in idual decision styles. Finally, latency to choice was highly repeatable, more so than choice accuracy. Previous work has shown that learning, the costs of a bad decision and task difficulty frequently result in SATs. The lack of a SAT in our lizards might be a direct consequence of our simple testing methodology which prevented learning by not allowing lizards to consume the chosen quantity. To fully understand how SATs develop, different methodologies that control the costs and benefits of decisions should be compared.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-10-2023
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 29-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.10.27.465717
Abstract: Self-recognition is the ability to recognise stimuli originating from oneself. Humans and most great apes show evidence of true self-recognition in the mirror test. They use their reflection to remove a mark that is only visible in the mirror. Not all animals, however, rely primarily on vision. In lizards, chemical cues are important in social interactions. A number of lizard species show chemical self-recognition but it has never been investigated in a gecko species. Here, we test the tokay gecko ( Gekko gecko ) a territorial species with parental care on their ability to discriminate their own skin and faecal chemicals from those of same-sex, unfamiliar conspecifics. Geckos show a higher response rate towards chemicals from unfamiliar in iduals compared to self-produced chemicals and a water control. Lizards showed self-directed behaviour, responded stronger to skin chemicals and females responded more than males. Our study provides first evidence towards self-recognition and for a social function of chemical present on faeces in tokay geckos but further tests are needed to confirm true self-recognition. Tokay geckos are an excellent model species to investigate in idual recognition to demonstrate more sophisticated social cognitive abilities than have previously been attributed to reptiles.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2023
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-023-30546-7
Abstract: Animal personality traits are sometimes linked to an in idual’s degree of plasticity, with certain personality types being more plastic than others. In territorial species, consistently high levels of aggression might increase the risk of harmful fights, while consistently low aggression might lead to the loss of a territory. Consequently, reacting plastically with an appropriate territorial response should be beneficial to avoid these risks. An integrative investigation of both personality traits and plasticity can help us better understand the dynamics of aggressive interactions during male-male competition. Here, we used a free-ranging Neotropical poison frog population to investigate the role of plasticity in male territorial aggression towards intruders. We conducted repeated standardized territorial intrusion experiments mimicking frogs of different body sizes via playback calls with different peak frequencies. We found in idual repeatability for the latency to reach and approach a simulated intruder and observed that both aggressive and less aggressive males decreased their level of aggression towards big intruders. However, our results do not support a correlation between personality and plasticity in the context of male territory defense during the breeding season. We discuss how such a correlation between personality and plasticity might be conditional on the costs and benefits across contexts.
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-12-2021
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.243647
Abstract: For animals to survive until reproduction, it is crucial that juveniles successfully detect potential predators and respond with appropriate behavior. The recognition of cues originating from predators can be innate or learned. Cues of various modalities might be used alone or in multi-modal combinations to detect and distinguish predators but studies investigating multi-modal integration in predator avoidance are scarce. Here, we used wild, naive tadpoles of the Neotropical poison frog Allobates femoralis ( Boulenger, 1884) to test their reaction to cues with two modalities from two different sympatrically occurring potential predators: heterospecific predatory Dendrobates tinctorius tadpoles and dragonfly larvae. We presented A. femoralis tadpoles with olfactory or visual cues, or a combination of the two, and compared their reaction to a water control in a between-in idual design. In our trials, A. femoralis tadpoles reacted to multi-modal stimuli (a combination of visual and chemical information) originating from dragonfly larvae with avoidance but showed no reaction to uni-modal cues or cues from heterospecific tadpoles. In addition, visual cues from conspecifics increased swimming activity while cues from predators had no effect on tadpole activity. Our results show that A. femoralis tadpoles can innately recognize some predators and probably need both visual and chemical information to effectively avoid them. This is the first study looking at anti-predator behavior in poison frog tadpoles. We discuss how parental care might influence the expression of predator avoidance responses in tadpoles.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2022
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 09-01-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.09.523205
Abstract: Neophobia, the avoidance of a novel stimulus, demonstrates the cognitive process of distinguishing novelty from familiarity. Different factors affect neophobia such as evolutionary background, cognitive skills or the social and non-social environment. In iduals from social species often change their neophobic response depending on the presence of a conspecific. Their response might even depend on their social relationship but the directionality of the change varies. To better understand the role of the social environment for neophobia, we tested the effect of the presence/ absence of a mating partner and pair association strength on neophobia across three contexts in the tokay gecko ( Gekko gecko ), a facultative social species with independent offspring. Geckos expressed neophobia similarly when housed singly and in pairs. However, we found that pairs that associated less entered a novel environment faster than those with a strong association while in pair housing. Our study adds important new insights into the relationship between social context and neophobia in a social lizard. Our results highlight that, even in species that express little affiliative behaviour, presence/ absence of a conspecific is insufficient to understand the complex relationship between the social environment and neophobia.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 10-03-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.03.09.483578
Abstract: Neophobia, the fear of novelty, is an ecologically important response which enables animals to avoid potentially harmful situations. Low levels of neophobia have been linked to elevated dispersal/ migration, invasiveness and living in human modified landscapes albeit only in birds and mammals. In this study, we assessed neophobia in captive Tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ). We expected to find low neophobia in our geckos because they are invasive and adopt well to anthropogenic environments. This species is, however, also both predator and prey in the wild which might select for higher neophobia. We tested neophobia in three contexts: attacking novel prey, foraging near novel objects and entering a novel space. We aimed to quantify (1) neophobia in these contexts, (2) in idual consistency across trials using different novel stimuli, and (3) correlation of in idual responses across the three contexts. We found that geckos hesitate to attack novel prey and prey close to objects (familiar and novel). Geckos hesitated the most when entering novel space and repeatability of behaviour across contexts was low (R = 0.12) indicating that neophobia might not be a single trait. The strength of a neophobic response can indicate how anxious or curious an in idual is. This test has great potential to help answer questions about how captivity, enrichment, rearing environment and cognition affect fear responses in different contexts in lizards. By studying reptiles, we can better understand the universality of what is known about the causes leading to difference in neophobia across in iduals and species.
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Eva Ringler.