Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Rycyck, Athena

Area of Concentration

Animal Wellbeing and Conservation

Abstract

Cognitive abilities of various animal species can be measured in their capability to learn. Reptile learning capabilities is a subject that is less studied than their mammalian and avian counterparts. This review sets out to evaluate evidence over 34 years of research on reptiles of various species and assesses whether there exists data that reptiles have the cognitive potential to learn in a variety of ways, as studies of other species have concluded. In this paper several studies examined the hypothesis that several reptile species are capable of learning from associations between positive and negative conditioned stimuli, including ways that support their survival capabilities in the wild. Several species have been observed to potentially demonstrate this learning capability, suggesting that the field of reptile cognition is one that may benefit from further study. Additionally, studies indicate that certain species of Reptilia may have the ability to learn through observation of others within and outside of their own species, displaying flexibility not only in learning, but also the process of or reversal learning. This review of existing literature would indicate that further research in the area of cognition in non-avian reptiles would be beneficial.

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