Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus)
Black rats (Rattus rattus) have begun occupying a new habitat in recent years —the Jerusalem pine (Pinus halepensis) forests in Israel. In this, otherwise almost sterile habitat, the sole source of nourishment for the rats is the pine seems that can only be extracted from the cones through a complex...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
eScholarship, University of California
1991
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9n7291hf |
id |
ftcdlib:qt9n7291hf |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcdlib:qt9n7291hf 2023-05-15T18:05:08+02:00 Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus) Zohar, O Terkel, Joseph 1991-01-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9n7291hf english eng eScholarship, University of California qt9n7291hf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9n7291hf Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Zohar, O; & Terkel, Joseph. (1991). Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus). International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 5(1). Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9n7291hf International Journal of Comparative Psychology Behavior Behaviour Learning Behavioral Taxonomy Cognition Cognitive Processes Conditioning Rat Pine Cone Stripping Black Rat article 1991 ftcdlib 2016-04-02T18:20:42Z Black rats (Rattus rattus) have begun occupying a new habitat in recent years —the Jerusalem pine (Pinus halepensis) forests in Israel. In this, otherwise almost sterile habitat, the sole source of nourishment for the rats is the pine seems that can only be extracted from the cones through a complex feeding technique. Adult black rats unfamiliar with the technique (termed "naive") were unable to attain it either through trial and error or through observational learning when housed with experienced rats (termed "strippers"). In contrast, black rat pups raised by stripper mothers did learn the pine cone opening behaviour. In addition to the presence of a stripper model, however, the clues of the pine seeds themselves, as well as partially open cones, may also play a role in the acquisition of the technique. The state of the cone itself, when encountered by the rat pups, may be an important factor. Three groups of experimental animals were used: 25 pups born to naive mothers and reared on rat chow without exposure to either stripping mothers or partially opened cones; 25 pups born to naive mothers and exposed to pine cones in various stages of opening; 55 pups born to stripper mothers and exposed both to pine cones and to the presence of their mothers actively involved in stripping the cones and feeding on the seeds. We found that pine cone stripping behaviour is learned through two stages of a local enhancement effect: First, the pups are directed to the pine cones as a food resource, and then to the cone's proximal end as a starting point. The development of the stripping technique is acquired individually, with accumulating experience. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus University of California: eScholarship The Cones ENVELOPE(78.344,78.344,-68.635,-68.635) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
English |
topic |
International Journal of Comparative Psychology Behavior Behaviour Learning Behavioral Taxonomy Cognition Cognitive Processes Conditioning Rat Pine Cone Stripping Black Rat |
spellingShingle |
International Journal of Comparative Psychology Behavior Behaviour Learning Behavioral Taxonomy Cognition Cognitive Processes Conditioning Rat Pine Cone Stripping Black Rat Zohar, O Terkel, Joseph Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus) |
topic_facet |
International Journal of Comparative Psychology Behavior Behaviour Learning Behavioral Taxonomy Cognition Cognitive Processes Conditioning Rat Pine Cone Stripping Black Rat |
description |
Black rats (Rattus rattus) have begun occupying a new habitat in recent years —the Jerusalem pine (Pinus halepensis) forests in Israel. In this, otherwise almost sterile habitat, the sole source of nourishment for the rats is the pine seems that can only be extracted from the cones through a complex feeding technique. Adult black rats unfamiliar with the technique (termed "naive") were unable to attain it either through trial and error or through observational learning when housed with experienced rats (termed "strippers"). In contrast, black rat pups raised by stripper mothers did learn the pine cone opening behaviour. In addition to the presence of a stripper model, however, the clues of the pine seeds themselves, as well as partially open cones, may also play a role in the acquisition of the technique. The state of the cone itself, when encountered by the rat pups, may be an important factor. Three groups of experimental animals were used: 25 pups born to naive mothers and reared on rat chow without exposure to either stripping mothers or partially opened cones; 25 pups born to naive mothers and exposed to pine cones in various stages of opening; 55 pups born to stripper mothers and exposed both to pine cones and to the presence of their mothers actively involved in stripping the cones and feeding on the seeds. We found that pine cone stripping behaviour is learned through two stages of a local enhancement effect: First, the pups are directed to the pine cones as a food resource, and then to the cone's proximal end as a starting point. The development of the stripping technique is acquired individually, with accumulating experience. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zohar, O Terkel, Joseph |
author_facet |
Zohar, O Terkel, Joseph |
author_sort |
Zohar, O |
title |
Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus) |
title_short |
Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus) |
title_full |
Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus) |
title_fullStr |
Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus) |
title_sort |
acquistion of pine cone stripping behaviour in black rats (rattus rattus) |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
1991 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9n7291hf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(78.344,78.344,-68.635,-68.635) |
geographic |
The Cones |
geographic_facet |
The Cones |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Zohar, O; & Terkel, Joseph. (1991). Acquistion of Pine Cone Stripping Behaviour in Black Rats (Rattus rattus). International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 5(1). Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9n7291hf |
op_relation |
qt9n7291hf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9n7291hf |
op_rights |
Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766176584936456192 |