ArticleAnimal cognition2023
Innovative problem-solving in a small, wild canid.
Article in Animal cognition, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Innovation, Inhibition and Flexibility in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta).American journal of primatology · 2025Article
- Palaeognath birds innovate to solve a novel foraging problem.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- How to solve novel problems: the role of associative learning in problem-solving performance in wild great tits Parus major.Animal cognition · 2024Article
- Persistence associated with extractive foraging explains variation in innovation in Darwin's finches.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Innovation - the ability to solve problems in a novel way - is not only associated with cognitive abilities and relative brain size, but also by noncognitive traits, such as personality and motivation. We used a novel foraging task with three access options to determine how neophobia, exploration, and persistence influence innovation in 12 habituated bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis) in the Kalahari Desert. Bat-eared foxes offer a unique system to understand cognition as they have the smallest relative brain size of measured canids and a specialized, termite-based diet, yet have displayed foraging innovations. Interestingly, most of our individuals solved the task at least once and six individuals solved the task in every trial. Neophobia did not influence success on the first trial, but both exploration and persistence influenced success across all trials. Those individuals that solved the puzzle over multiple trials became faster over time, suggesting that they learned how to open the box more efficiently. We found some variation in the method to open the puzzle box with six individuals solving the puzzle using two methods and one individual using all three methods. This is the first study to show innovation in a novel foraging task in wild bat-eared foxes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.