%0 Journal Article
%A Caicoya, A. L.
%A Amici, Federica
%A Ensenyat, C.
%A Colell Mimo, M.
%+ Junior Research Group of Primate Kin Selection, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
%T Object permanence in giraffa camelopardalis: First steps in giraffes' physical cognition : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0002-4F14-0
%R 10.1037/com0000142
%D 2019
%* Review method: peer-reviewed
%X Although behavior, biology, and ecology of giraffes have been widely studied, little is known about their<br>cognition. Giraffes’ feeding ecology and their fission–fusion social dynamics are comparable with those<br>of chimpanzees (<br>Pan troglodytes<br>), suggesting that they might have complex cognitive abilities. To assess<br>this, we tested 6 captive giraffes on their object permanence, short-term memory, and ability to use<br>acoustic cues to locate food. First, we tested whether giraffes understand that objects continue to exist<br>even when they are out of sight. Giraffes saw one of two opaque containers containing food, then<br>containers were closed, an<br>d 2 s later giraffes could choose one. Second, we measured giraffes’ memory<br>repeating the procedure but with a delay of 30 s, 60 s, or 2 min between closing the containers and<br>subjects’ choice. Finally, we investigated whether giraffes could locate food inside one of two identical<br>opaque containers, when the only cue provided was the sound made by food when shaking the baited<br>container, or the lack of sound when shaking the empty container. Our results show that giraffes form<br>mental representations of completely hidden objects, but may not store them for longer than 30 s.<br>Moreover, they rely on stimulus enhancement rather than acoustic cues to locate food, when no visual<br>cues are provided. Finally, we argue that giraffes and other ungulates might be a suitable model to<br>investigate the evolution of complex cognitive abilities from a comparative perspective.
%K object permanence; short-term memory; acoustic cues; giraffe; Bayesian statistics
%J Journal of Comparative Psychology
%V 133
%N 2
%& 207
%P 207 - 214
%I American Psychological Association (PsycARTICLES)
%C Baltimore, Md.
%@ 0735-7036