Special Issue on REINSTATING REPTILES

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CALL FOR PAPERS: Special issue of Behaviour on REINSTATING REPTILES: FROM CLUELESS CREATURES TO ESTEEMED MODELS OF COGNITIVE BIOLOGY Guest Editors: Gilles De Meester (University of Antwerp) and Katleen Huyghe (University of Antwerp) Our understanding of the evolution of animal cognition is seriously hampered by an unfortunate choice of study animals. The field of animal cognition is heavily biased towards studies of a limited number of mammalian and avian model species, whereas other vertebrate taxa, reptiles and amphibians in particular, have been almost completely ignored – at least until recently. Non-avian reptiles (turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodiles) have long been neglected in cognitive science due to their reputation as slow, inflexible learners. Currently, our view on reptile cognition is changing rapidly. The last two decades have witnessed a renewed interest in the cognitive abilities of reptiles, and more ecologically relevant protocols have been designed to measure the mental capabilities of this group. Now we appreciate that reptiles possess an impressive set of cognitive skills, including problem-solving abilities, fast and flexible learning, quantity discrimination and even social learning. Several authors have recommended reptiles as model organisms to test hypotheses in cognitive biology that have proven difficult to tackle with traditional bird or mammalian models. The aim of this special issue is to highlight current research on reptiles, a taxonomic group that is still unrepresented within the field of animal cognition. We specifically hope to bring together a collection of articles showing the diversity of research questions that may be answered by using reptiles as study species, and thereby illustrating the potential of reptiles in cognitive research. Topics may be both fundamental (e.g. the link between learning and personality) and applied (e.g. welfare, conservation, etc). We especially encourage, but are not limited to, studies that use reptiles to test evolutionary/ecological/applied/… hypotheses which go beyond ‘can they learn?’. Submitted papers may be original research, but opinions and reviews will also be permitted. This special issue will highlight the diversity of evolutionary and ecological questions that could be answered by studying reptiles, and how this may lead to valuable insights in the evolution of cognition. As such, we hope to illustrate the potential of reptiles as model species within cognitive research. WORDS PER PAPER: 5.000 to 10.000 words, not including references; Times New Roman 11, double-spaced. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 31 August 2020; extended to 31 December 2020. GUEST EDITORS: Gilles De Meester, Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp. [email protected]; Dr. Katleen Huyghe, Functional Morphology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, [email protected]. .

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Discrimination of Male Black-Capped Chickadee Songs: Relationship Between Acoustic Preference and Performance Accuracy
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