Can Birds Count?: Numerical Discrimination in Pinyon Jays

Katie Carey, Haley Wilson, & London Wolff Author

04/05/2021 Added

17 Plays

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An analysis of Pinyon Jay caching behaviors by examining numerical differences in ratio and absolute difference.

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[00:00:01.632]Hello, my name is Haley Wilson and I will
[00:00:03.521]be presenting to you the first half of
[00:00:05.286]Can Birds Count?: Numerical Discrimination
[00:00:07.945]in Pinyon Jays.
[00:00:10.132]Our lab studies the behavior in pinyon jays.
[00:00:12.619]These birds are native to the southwest United States,
[00:00:14.633]and are unique in that they are able to
[00:00:15.982]participate in caching behaviors,
[00:00:18.265]meaning that they are able to gather large
[00:00:20.119]amounts of food and store them in various
[00:00:21.665]nooks and crannies all around their habitat.
[00:00:23.915]These birds are known to cache over 20,000 pine nuts.
[00:00:27.199]Our study consists of 10 jays, aged 10 to 15 years of age.
[00:00:31.906]Our study examines these caching behaviors
[00:00:33.722]to determine whether or not varying numbers
[00:00:35.687]of food options will affect how they select their prey.
[00:00:38.620]Our study uses mealworms, since insects are an
[00:00:40.927]important component of the pinyon jay diet.
[00:00:44.467]Right now we are in the Numerical Preference Task,
[00:00:46.400]in which we offer pinyon jays a series of
[00:00:48.634]discrimination judgements between
[00:00:50.121]smaller and larger numbers of mealworms.
[00:00:52.717]Here’s what we expect to see:
[00:00:54.116]Hypothesis 1: Pinyon jays will better discriminate
[00:00:57.483]numbers of items with higher numerical differences
[00:00:59.866]and lower numerical ratios.
[00:01:01.767]Hypothesis 2: Numerical difference will influence
[00:01:04.283]discrimination independently of the predicted
[00:01:06.234]effect of ratio.
[00:01:10.017]Moving on to the methods portion of this presentation,
[00:01:12.417]I will now go into a basic overview of
[00:01:14.483]what the experiments look like in the study.
[00:01:17.933]The subjects are placed in a random order
[00:01:19.523]to ensure that there is randomization throughout the
[00:01:21.377]entire experiment.
[00:01:23.739]The first step in performing these experiments
[00:01:25.706]is to obtain a randomized subject.
[00:01:28.689]Once a random subject is obtained,
[00:01:30.355]credentials, date, time, and session number
[00:01:32.156]are recorded.
[00:01:34.389]Prior to the experimental trials, each subject
[00:01:36.752]endures a debiasing trial,
[00:01:38.488]which is referred to as habituation 3.
[00:01:40.922]The purpose of this debiasing trial
[00:01:42.372]is to ensure that no subjects
[00:01:43.705]are biased to choosing one side
[00:01:45.239]of the experimental apparatus
[00:01:46.415]during the experiment.
[00:01:48.872]Once a subject has passed the debiasing trial,
[00:01:51.239]they will move on to one of the 5
[00:01:52.773]experimental trials using randomized sets.
[00:01:56.435]Randomized sets refers to a differing number
[00:01:58.512]of mealworms on different sides
[00:01:59.752]for each trial.
[00:02:01.613]For example, take figure 2.
[00:02:04.079]This figure allows us to view
[00:02:05.806]the experimental apparatus how a subject would
[00:02:07.913]during an experiment.
[00:02:10.180]This figure depicts a 2 to 1 ratio.
[00:02:12.173]However, if that subject passes through that trial
[00:02:14.997]and moves on to a different trial,
[00:02:16.330]there is going to be a different set
[00:02:18.723]for that next trial.
[00:02:21.073]During each trial, each subject
[00:02:22.520]is allotted 3 minutes to make a choice
[00:02:24.397]and finish the mealworms presented to them.
[00:02:26.446]If they do not finish, or make a choice,
[00:02:29.530]they are not moving on
[00:02:31.246]in the experimental trials.
[00:02:33.012]Depending on how far the subject gets
[00:02:34.812]in that session, the side chosen
[00:02:36.663]of each trial is recorded.
[00:02:38.913]Going back up to the figures presented to you,
[00:02:40.830]figure 1 is basically a top view
[00:02:42.734]above the basic layout of the cage
[00:02:45.046]in which the birds’ experiment is carried out.
[00:02:49.879]I will now show you the video in which
[00:02:51.662]the experiment is being carried out.
[00:03:18.209]Hello, my name is Katie Carey,
[00:03:19.879]and I will be presenting the results
[00:03:21.429]and the conclusion.
[00:03:23.462]As you can see from the graph,
[00:03:24.879]the trend shows that at ratios lower
[00:03:26.570]than 1 versus 4, our birds
[00:03:28.512]are less likely to discriminate
[00:03:30.079]between the two options.
[00:03:32.212]This means that as mealworm ratios
[00:03:33.734]get closer together, for example
[00:03:35.280]1 versus 2, the pinyon jays are less likely
[00:03:37.929]to care about their options compared
[00:03:39.546]to ratios further apart (such as 1 vs 5).
[00:03:43.397]This graph shows all of the different choices.
[00:03:45.963]The dotted black line at the 50% tick
[00:03:48.513]represents chance.
[00:03:50.081]Values at or around this dotted line means
[00:03:52.530]that our birds are choosing either side
[00:03:54.197]at random.
[00:03:56.130]Here is a look at Absolute Difference.
[00:03:58.913]As before, choices at or around the dotted line
[00:04:01.647]are attributed to chance,
[00:04:03.180]meaning that there is no pattern
[00:04:05.213]in mealworm choices.
[00:04:06.963]As you can see from this graph,
[00:04:08.413]there is a trend showing that as
[00:04:09.713]absolute differences increases, the choice
[00:04:11.696]for the larger option will also increase.
[00:04:17.539]Referring back to our hypothesis,
[00:04:19.509]there is evidence to say that our pinyon jays
[00:04:21.954]are able to discriminate
[00:04:23.516]higher numerical differences
[00:04:25.066]and lower numerical ratios.
[00:04:29.416]Based on the trends we're seeing in our data,
[00:04:31.616]we’re able to infer that our birds
[00:04:33.400]are using multiple facets of number
[00:04:35.116]to make their preference choices.
[00:04:37.799]The data presented here is important
[00:04:39.599]because it allows us to infer about
[00:04:41.600]Pinyon Jay caching behaviors.
[00:04:43.883]This is especially important when understanding
[00:04:46.499]when and how much food these birds cache
[00:04:48.982]in their natural environment.
[00:04:51.817]The next piece in our study is to understand
[00:04:53.799]time delays in these choices.
[00:04:56.083]Will our birds take more time in their
[00:04:57.699]decision-making as absolute difference
[00:04:59.499]and ratios change?
[00:05:02.483]If you are interested about hearing more
[00:05:04.249]about our Pinyon Jays and Numerical Discrimination
[00:05:06.566]in a social experiment, I invite you
[00:05:08.471]to check out our sister presentation
[00:05:10.500]“Who do birds want to hang out with?”
[00:05:13.583]Thank you to everyone who helped
[00:05:14.875]make this project a reality.
[00:05:17.442]I wanted to give a special thanks
[00:05:19.192]to Dr. Jeff Stevens and London Wolff
[00:05:20.993]for their time in helping design and plan
[00:05:22.993]this experiment.
[00:05:24.526]Thank you.

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Can Birds Count?: Numerical Discrimination in Pinyon Jays

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