Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.

Debate persists over whether animals develop innovative solutions primarily in response to needs or conversely whether they innovate more when basic needs are covered and opportunity to develop novel behaviour is offered. We sourced 746 cases of "unusual" behaviour in equids by contacting...

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Autores principales:	Konstanze Krueger, Laureen Esch, Richard Byrne
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/7dde970b68344b89acab7601be44cbe5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:7dde970b68344b89acab7601be44cbe52021-12-02T20:14:07ZNeed or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0257730https://doaj.org/article/7dde970b68344b89acab7601be44cbe52021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257730https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Debate persists over whether animals develop innovative solutions primarily in response to needs or conversely whether they innovate more when basic needs are covered and opportunity to develop novel behaviour is offered. We sourced 746 cases of "unusual" behaviour in equids by contacting equid owners and caretakers directly and via a website (https://innovative-behaviour.org), and by searching the internet platforms YouTube and Facebook for videos. The study investigated whether differences in need or opportunity for innovation were reflected in the numbers of different types of innovations and in the frequencies of repeating a once-innovative behaviour (i) with respect to the equids' sex, age, and breed type, (ii) across behavioural categories, and whether (iii) they were affected by the equids' management (single vs group housing, access to roughage feed, access to pasture, and social contact). We found that the numbers of different types of innovation and the frequency of displaying specific innovations were not affected by individual characteristics (sex, age, breed or equid species). Few types of innovation in escape and foraging contexts were observed, whilst the comfort, play, and social contexts elicited the greatest variety of innovations. We also found higher numbers of different types of innovations in horses kept in groups rather than in individual housing, and with unlimited rather than with restricted access to pasture and roughage. Equids in permanent social contact performed high rates of once-innovative behaviour. We suggest that equids produce goal-directed innovations and repeat the behaviour at high frequency in response to urgent needs for food and free movement or when kept in conditions with social conflict. However, equids devise the greatest variety of innovations when opportunity to play and to develop comfort behaviour arises and when kept in good conditions.Konstanze KruegerLaureen EschRichard ByrnePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 9, p e0257730 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Konstanze Krueger Laureen Esch Richard Byrne Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.
description	Debate persists over whether animals develop innovative solutions primarily in response to needs or conversely whether they innovate more when basic needs are covered and opportunity to develop novel behaviour is offered. We sourced 746 cases of "unusual" behaviour in equids by contacting equid owners and caretakers directly and via a website (https://innovative-behaviour.org), and by searching the internet platforms YouTube and Facebook for videos. The study investigated whether differences in need or opportunity for innovation were reflected in the numbers of different types of innovations and in the frequencies of repeating a once-innovative behaviour (i) with respect to the equids' sex, age, and breed type, (ii) across behavioural categories, and whether (iii) they were affected by the equids' management (single vs group housing, access to roughage feed, access to pasture, and social contact). We found that the numbers of different types of innovation and the frequency of displaying specific innovations were not affected by individual characteristics (sex, age, breed or equid species). Few types of innovation in escape and foraging contexts were observed, whilst the comfort, play, and social contexts elicited the greatest variety of innovations. We also found higher numbers of different types of innovations in horses kept in groups rather than in individual housing, and with unlimited rather than with restricted access to pasture and roughage. Equids in permanent social contact performed high rates of once-innovative behaviour. We suggest that equids produce goal-directed innovations and repeat the behaviour at high frequency in response to urgent needs for food and free movement or when kept in conditions with social conflict. However, equids devise the greatest variety of innovations when opportunity to play and to develop comfort behaviour arises and when kept in good conditions.
format	article
author	Konstanze Krueger Laureen Esch Richard Byrne
author_facet	Konstanze Krueger Laureen Esch Richard Byrne
author_sort	Konstanze Krueger
title	Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.
title_short	Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.
title_full	Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.
title_fullStr	Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.
title_full_unstemmed	Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.
title_sort	need or opportunity? a study of innovations in equids.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/7dde970b68344b89acab7601be44cbe5
work_keys_str_mv	AT konstanzekrueger needoropportunityastudyofinnovationsinequids AT laureenesch needoropportunityastudyofinnovationsinequids AT richardbyrne needoropportunityastudyofinnovationsinequids
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Need or opportunity? A study of innovations in equids.

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