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Innovation (i.e., a new solution to a familiar problem, or applying an existing behavior to a novel problem1Kummer H. Goodall J. Conditions of innovative behaviour in primates.Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 1985; 308: 203-214https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1985.0020Crossref Google Scholar,2Reader S.M. Laland K.N. Animal innovation. Oxford University Press, 2003Crossref Google Scholar) plays a fundamental role in species’ ecology and evolution. It can be a useful measure for cross-group comparisons of behavioral and cognitive flexibility and a proxy for general intelligence.3Griffin A.S. Guez D. Innovation and problem solving: A review of common mechanisms.Behav Processes. 2014; 109: 121-134https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2014.08.027Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar,4Goodman M. Hayward T. Hunt G.R. Habitual tool use innovated by free-living New Zealand kea.Sci. Rep. 2018; 8: 13935https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32363-9Crossref Scopus (18) Google Scholar,5Lefebvre L. 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Ornithol. 2021; 133: 127-131https://doi.org/10.1676/20-00060Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar We tested wild striated caracaras as a new avian model for technical cognition and innovation using a field-applicable 8-task comparative paradigm (adapted from Rössler et al.20Rössler T. Mioduszewska B. O’Hara M. Huber L. Prawiradilaga D.M. Auersperg A.M.I. Using an Innovation Arena to compare wild-caught and laboratory Goffin’s cockatoos.Sci. Rep. 2020; 10: 8681https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65223-6Crossref Scopus (17) Google Scholar and Auersperg et al.21Auersperg A.M.I. von Bayern A.M.P. Gajdon G.K. Huber L. Kacelnik A. Flexibility in Problem Solving and Tool Use of Kea and New Caledonian Crows in a Multi Access Box Paradigm.PLoS One. 2011; 6: e20231Crossref PubMed Scopus (144) Google Scholar). The setup allowed us to assess behavior, rate, and flexibility of problem solving over repeated exposure in a natural setting. 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Rep. 2020; 10: 8681https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65223-6Crossref Scopus (17) Google Scholar nearly reaching ceiling levels of innovation in few trials, repeatedly and flexibly solving tasks, and rapidly learning. We attribute our findings to the birds’ ecology, including geographic restriction, resource unpredictability, and opportunistic generalism,23Melin A.D. Young H.C. Mosdossy K.N. Fedigan L.M. Seasonality, extractive foraging and the evolution of primate sensorimotor intelligence.J. Hum. Evol. 2014; 71: 77-86https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.02.009Crossref PubMed Scopus (69) Google Scholar,24Pravosudov V.V. Roth II, T.C. LaDage L.D. Freas C.A. Environmental Influences on Spatial Memory and the Hippocampus in Food-Caching Chickadees.Comp. Cogn. Behav. Rev. 2015; 10: 25-43Crossref Google Scholar,25Daniels S.E. Fanelli R.E. Gilbert A. Benson-Amram S. Behavioral flexibility of a generalist carnivore.Anim. Cognit. 2019; 22: 387-396https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01252-7Crossref Scopus (37) Google Scholar and encourage future work investigating their cognitive abilities in the wild.
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