Perception, memory, and problem solving in otters

Paul directed the Marine Mammal Research Program at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology while I was a graduate student (1997–2003). Paul and I worked on dolphin echolocation projects while I was there. But he did his first presentation on visual size discrimination in clawless otters in 1969. I have studied perception and cognition in otters for more than a decade. We found that river otters can visually discriminate between stimuli using either color or shape, and that they can perceptually categorize novel stimuli. Our first effort to investigate long-term memory in river otters using the novel object recognition task was unsuccessful, in part because of a low sample size. We initiated the ManyOtters group to promote studies with larger sample sizes and multiple species of otters, while developing a collaborative network of scientists and facilities around the country. Our first study utilizes puzzle boxes to study long-term memory in various otter species. We chose the puzzles and refined the protocol based on our pilot study last year. Currently, data collection is underway for the experiment and is taking place in many facilities. This big team science approach can shed light on perception and cognition in otters.