Possums can learn by watching each other according to new research, which showed, for the first time, that possums were more successful in solving a pule after they had observed others tackling it first.
鈥淎s far as we were able to find, this study is the first to have looked into the social learning abilities of common brushtail possums, which is very exciting,鈥 Godfrey says.
The toy served as a pule she says, with five different coloured domes of which two were 'target domes', containing chocolate hazelnut spread. 鈥淲e were trying to teach them to open the target domes to get to the rewards as an incentive for learning.鈥
UC Master鈥檚 student Emma Godfrey鈥檚 dream to work with animals and study their behaviour is coming to fruition at UC
Meanwhile, 鈥榦bserver鈥 possums in adjacent pens watched the 鈥榙emonstrator鈥 possums for five nights before getting the chance to solve the pule themselves.
While two of the eight demonstrators solved the pule on the first night, and three succeeded on later nights, the possums who watched them did much better. 15 out of the 15 observers succeeded in solving the pule on the first night, strongly suggesting they learnt from watching the demonstrators.
Although the experiment sounds fun, it has potentially serious implications for pest eradication in Aotearoa New Zealand.
鈥淚 think the more we can understand about how possums learn (or stoats or rats which New Zealand also aims to eradicate), this can hopefully provide us with ways of improving current methods or creating new ways of pest control. New Zealand's biodiversity is heavily impacted by possums so any new knowledge that can help with eradication is important in order to protect our native species,鈥 Godfrey says.听
The next stage is to explore whether possums can also learn from each other what to stay away from. 鈥淢ore research needs to be done to test, explicitly, if social learning is helping possums avoid baits and traps.鈥
The paper,听, was published with supervisors听Professor Elissa Cameron听(Ng膩i Tahu) from UC and Graham Hickling from Manaaki Whenua鈥擫andcare Research, in the Royal Society Biology Letters journal.
Working with experienced supervisors and publishing her first paper was exciting, Godfrey says. 鈥淚t feels amazing! You put all this time and effort into doing the research, and then more time finalising the manuscript, so for it to be finally out in the world is a bit surreal as a first-time publisher.鈥
Godfrey 鈥渢horoughly enjoyed鈥 working with Professor Cameron, who won the 2022听UC research medal听for her internationally recognised research into social bonds in wildlife including South African giraffes, Tasmanian Devils in Australia and Kaimanawa wild horses in Aotearoa. Godfrey was also set to study giraffes, however Covid disruptions set her on a different course and Dr Hickling, senior scientist with Maanaki Whenua and Emeritus Professor University of Tennessee, provided the possum expertise. 听
Following a double major in Biology and Psychology, Godfrey knew she most wanted to work with animals and study their behaviour. 鈥淎nyone who knows me knows that I've always been drawn to animals, and I genuinely love learning about all aspects of them, so being able to do my own animal behaviour research was a dream come true,鈥 she says.
And the dream continues with a听UC Aho H墨n膩tore Accelerator scholarship听paving the way for a PhD at UC.
Meanwhile, Godfrey鈥檚 current research is attracting attention. 鈥淚f I look back on when I started and we were just beginning to design the experiment, I never would've expected the interest people have shown in it, so it's a wild experience really.鈥
Watch Emma Godfrey talking about her research on听.
