Damas-Moreira Isabel, Bégué Lauriane, Ringler Eva, Szabo Birgit
Department of Behavioural Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Division of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Wohlenstrasse 50a, Bern, 3032, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 2;15(1):11364. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-95936-5.
Animals need to recognize different individuals, both con- and heterospecifics, to make appropriate decisions. In the wild, responses to familiar individuals may vary depending on the context, which can be beneficial. However, differing responses towards human experimenters can influence experimental outcomes. Such effects might be particularly overlooked in reptiles which are frequently viewed as cognitively less advanced. We tested Tokay geckos' (Gekko gecko) ability to distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar handlers in two situations: in a novel situation (exerting physical constraint) and a routine situation (feeding from forceps as during regular husbandry). Geckos showed sex-specific differences towards familiar and unfamiliar handlers in a routine situation, but not in a novel situation, in which they showed individual repeatability. Our results further advance our understanding of reptile cognition revealing important insights into context specific responses in relation to handler identity with implications for experimental animal studies that are rarely considered.
动物需要识别不同的个体，包括同种和异种个体，以便做出合适的决策。在野外，对熟悉个体的反应可能因情境而异，这可能是有益的。然而，对人类实验者的不同反应会影响实验结果。这种影响在通常被认为认知能力较不发达的爬行动物中可能尤其容易被忽视。我们测试了大壁虎（Gekko gecko）在两种情境下区分熟悉和不熟悉饲养者的能力：一种是新情境（施加身体限制），另一种是常规情境（如在日常饲养中用镊子喂食）。在常规情境中，大壁虎对熟悉和不熟悉的饲养者表现出性别特异性差异，但在新情境中没有，在新情境中它们表现出个体重复性。我们的研究结果进一步加深了我们对爬行动物认知的理解，揭示了与饲养者身份相关的情境特异性反应的重要见解，这对实验动物研究具有启示意义，而这些意义很少被考虑到。
