Can a traditional partner preference test quantify monogamous behavior in captive coyotes?

Social monogamy is a unique social system exhibited by only 3-5% of mammalian taxa; however, all wild canid species exhibit this social system. Despite the high prevalence of social monogamy among canids, little is known about how they form selective social attachment relationships among non-kin. Thus, we aimed to quantify monogamous behavior in a highly ubiquitous canid, the coyote (Canis latrans). We adapted the three-chambered partner preference test, which was originally developed for prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), to assess social preference in mated pairs of captive coyotes at the USDA Predator Research Facility. We quantified monogamy-related behaviors, such as time spent in spatial proximity to a pair-mate versus a stranger. Our behavioral ethogram also included visual seeking, olfactory investigations, ears down, scent marking, and affiliative behavior. Test subjects showed significantly greater affiliative behavior toward their partner than toward a stranger. However, there was extremely high variability both within and between coyote pairs across behavioral measures. These data suggest the need for larger sample sizes when working with species with high individual variability, as well as the need for species- and facility-specific modifications to this testing paradigm and/or ethogram to better adapt it from its laboratory and rodent-based origins.

Cognitive flexibility and aging in coyotes (Canis latrans).

Cognitive flexibility evolves in species that live in complex and dynamic social systems and habitats and may enable species to better cope with anthropogenic habitat modification. Aging may also impact the cognitive abilities of canids. Coyotes (Canis latrans) and domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) differ markedly in their social and trophic ecology but have both been highly successful in adapting to human-modified ecosystems. Aging dogs develop a form of dementia that mirrors Alzheimer's disease in humans, but it is unknown whether similar cognitive deficits develop with age in coyotes and other wild canids. In this study, we modified a spatial serial reversal-learning test that was sensitive to cognitive aging in pet dogs to test cognitive flexibility in captive coyotes. We also performed a second experiment using a color discrimination task to test for flexible rule learning. A total of 19 of 20 coyotes demonstrated the ability to track shifts in spatial reward contingencies and learned to rapidly complete reversals by using a win-stay, lose-shift strategy. In addition, coyotes inhibited prepotent win-stay choices to acquire the color discrimination task. These findings suggest that behavioral flexibility may help coyotes to detect and respond appropriately to both rapid fluctuations and gradual changes in ecological conditions. Performance did not differ between coyotes and previously tested dogs, but similar to dogs, behavioral flexibility declined with age in adult coyotes. Thus, cognitive decline and flexibility may be conserved among canines pending additional studies on other Canis species. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Persistence and conspecific observations improve problem-solving abilities of coyotes.

Social learning has important ecological and evolutionary consequences but the role of certain factors, such as social rank, neophobia (i.e., avoidance of novel stimuli), persistence, and task-reward association, remain less understood. We examined the role of these factors in social learning by captive coyotes (Canis latrans) via three studies. Study 1 involved individual animals and eliminated object neophobia by familiarizing the subjects to the testing apparatus prior to testing. Studies 2 and 3 used mated pairs to assess social rank, and included object neophobia, but differed in that study 3 decoupled the food reward from the testing apparatus (i.e., altered task-reward association). For all three studies, we compared performance between coyotes that received a demonstration from a conspecific to control animals with no demonstration prior to testing. Coyotes displayed social learning during study 1; coyotes with a demonstrator were faster and more successful at solving the puzzle box but did not necessarily use the same modality as that observed to be successful. In study 2, there was no difference in success between treatment groups but this is likely because only one coyote within each pair was successful so successful coyote results were masked by their unsuccessful mate. In study 3, there was no difference in success between treatment groups; only two coyotes, both dominant, hand-reared males with demonstrators were able to perform the task. However, coyotes with a demonstrator were less neophobic, measured as latency to approach the object, and more persistent, measured as time spent working on the apparatus. Social rank was the best predictor of neophobia and persistence and was also retained in the best model for time to eat inside the apparatus, a post-trial measurement of object neophobia. These results suggest coyotes are capable of social learning for novel tasks but social rank, neophobia, and persistence influence their social-learning capabilities. This study contributes to understanding the mechanisms underlying how animals gain information about their environment.