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Comparison of ratio effects between red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans, orange) and stripe-necked turtle (Mauremys sinensis, blue) in the mixed numerosity tests (Experiment 2). a The success rates between the two turtle species did not exhibit notable differences when all three phases were combined (Table S3). The performance of both species adhered to Weber’s law, where an increased ratio led to decreased performance (P < 0.001). b When analyzing the data separately by phase, the stripe-necked turtles showed a more pronounced decrease in performance during high-ratio trials compared to the sliders during the first phase (P = 0.0476)
Source publication
Little is known about the behavioral and cognitive traits that best predict invasion success. Evidence is mounting that cognitive performance correlates with survival and fecundity, two pivotal factors for the successful establishment of invasive populations. We assessed the quantity discrimination ability of the globally invasive red-eared slider...
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Citations
... During the training phase, it typically took several weeks for the turtles to associate food with the tweezers, and a similar amount of time to transfer the food reward from the tweezers to the red cubes. Although the learning speed varied for each individual, the overall training time was approximately 60 days (Lin et al. 2024). Therefore, response to the red cubes on either Day 1 (MS16, MS33, and MS31) or Day 2 (MS11 and MS14) was likely due to memory rather than relearning. ...
... We still emphasize on the under-estimated cognition ability of turtles and tortoises, which has just raised scientists' concern in the past decade. Relevant studies comprise gaze following (Wikinson et al. 2010); maze experiments and spatial navigation (Mueller-Paul et al. 2012); long term memory (Soldati et al. 2017); and quantity discrimination ability from a variety of different species (Gazzola et al. 2018;Lin et al. 2021Lin et al. , 2024Tomonaga et al. 2023). Among these, quantity discrimination ability is an excellent research subject because it's quantifiable and reproducible characteristics facilitate cross-species or cross-situational comparisons. ...
Cognition and memory ability is pivotal for animal survival and is believed to be particularly adaptive for long-lived species. Numerosity discrimination, crucial for resource management and social interactions, provides a quantitative framework that allows us to compare the performance and the recovery of previously established concepts after a long-term retention interval. In this research, we investigated the capacity of freshwater turtles to remember the experimental process and gradually recall the abstract concept of “greater than”. Five striped-necked turtles (Mauremys sinensis), trained in 2019 to discriminate between quantities represented by red cubes, were retested after a two-year retention interval with no exposure to stimuli or human interaction. Three turtles remembered the training process to acquire food rewards from the stimuli within the first day of testing. However, regaining the concept of “greater than” required more time: one turtle reached 68% accuracy (P = 0.0669) on Day 1, another achieved 77% (P = 0.0085) on Day 2, and a third reached 82% (P = 0.0022) on Day 3. The latter two individuals retained this high accuracy until the end of the experiment. As the study continued, memory recall for each subject improved with greater efficiency than two years prior. Our study confirms that freshwater turtles retain long-term memory of abstract concepts learned two years earlier and reveals significant individual heterogeneity in their recall and decision-making processes. These findings underscore the need for more comprehensive research into the factors shaping animal cognition and behavior, particularly in understanding the ecological and evolutionary pressures that influence memory retention, individual variability, and decision-making strategies.
Significance statement
This study provides compelling evidence that freshwater turtles possess the ability to retain and recall abstract cognitive concepts over extended periods without reinforcement, highlighting their advanced cognitive capacities. By demonstrating that striped-necked turtles (Mauremys sinensis) can remember training and discriminate based on the concept of "greater than" after a two-year hiatus, our research not only challenges existing assumptions about reptilian memory capabilities but also enriches our understanding of cognitive evolution in long-lived species. The found individual differences in memory recall and decision-making underscore the complexity of animal cognition and highlight the significance of individual variability in behavioral studies. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that support long-term memory in animals.
