New research shows that otter's learn skills from each other.
The meat inside of the boxes was protected by hard outer shells.
Learning from each other, the otter in the study decided whether to eat food or not.
They were able to figure out how to get the food items out of their protection.
Artificial food puzzles are the focus of much of the research into the otter's learning abilities.
We wanted to investigate such skills in the context of unfamiliar natural prey and artificial food puzzles.
The team studied the social groups of the otter before they ate.
Social learning could be measured by how fast associates learn from each other.
The otter was given five different versions of the puzzle box with a familiar food inside. Pulling a tab and opening a flap were some of the methods used to extract the food.
The natural prey were rainbow trout, shore crabs, and blue mussels.
The meat from all three types of natural prey was obtained by 11 otter.
Asian short-clawed otter populations are declining in the wild and understanding their behavior can help in the development of conservativism.
The captive otter in this study was able to learn how to extract food.
According to our findings, if you give one otter pre-release training, it can pass some of that information on to other people.
The paper was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
More information: Captive Asian short-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus) learn to exploit unfamiliar natural prey, Royal Society Open Science (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211819. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211819 Journal information: Royal Society Open Science
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