Ungulate cognition

In this project, we are investigating how ungulates perform in a variety of experimental tasks assessing different behavioural and cognitive traits, both in the physical and in the social domain.

Through comparisons across individuals and species, we aim to understand which individual and/or species characteristics (e.g. social integration, personality, socio-ecology) may be linked to the emergence of specific traits.

The project is run in collaboration with several researchers, including Montserrat Colell, Ruben Holland and our PhD students Alvaro Caicoya and Alina Schaffer.

Publications

• Giraffes make decisions based on statistical information
  Caicoya AL, Colell M, Amici F
  Scientific Reports. 2023 May:13(1):5518.
  DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32615-3
• Innovation across 13 ungulate species: problem solvers are less integrated in the social group and less neophobic
  Caicoya, AL, Schaffer, A, Holland R, von Fersen L, Colell M, Amici F
  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 2023 Apr;290(1996):20222384.
  DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2384 
• Problem solving in European bison (Bison bonasus): two experimental approaches
  Caicoya AL, Colell M, Ensenyat C, Amici F
  Royal Society Open Science. 2021 Apr;8(4):201901
  DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201901
• Neophobia in 10 ungulate species – a comparative approach
  Schaffer A, Caicoya, AL, Colell M, Holland R, von Fersen L, Widdig A, Amici F
  Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. 2021 Jun; 75(7):102.
  DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03041-0