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Quantity discrimination in the eastern water skink (Eulamprus quoyii)

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posted on 2024-11-05, 00:10 authored by Kai Ning Rachel Wong

Quantity discrimination is a cognitive ability that allows vertebrates to process discrete and continuous numerical information. Amphibians and non-avian reptiles have long been underestimated regarding studies of cognition and, as a result, have limited studies investigating their quantity discrimination abilities. This thesis contains two chapters: a systematic literature review chapter and a data chapter. The systematic literature review summarises the currently published literature about quantity discrimination in amphibians and non-avian reptiles. Within this chapter, I discuss the literature on quantity discrimination in amphibians and non-avian reptiles and compare this to other vertebrates. I also identify gaps in our knowledge and suggest future avenues for research. The data chapter focuses on a binary choice experiment to investigate how the eastern water skink uses quantity discrimination. I used images of crickets displayed on an iPad screen that varied in number or size to determine if the skinks could discriminate between different ratios. I found that the skinks could only discriminate treatments with the lowest ratio of 0.25. However, these results show that they can perform quantity discrimination and demonstrate a novel approach to studying quantity discrimination in non-avian reptiles through the use of digital stimuli.

History

Table of Contents

Quantity discrimination in amphibians and non-avian reptiles: a systematic literature review -- Quantity discrimination in the eastern water skink (Eulamprus quoyii) -- Supplementary materials -- Appendix

Awarding Institution

Macquarie University

Degree Type

Thesis MRes

Degree

Master of Research

Department, Centre or School

School of Natural Sciences

Year of Award

2024

Principal Supervisor

Martin Whiting

Additional Supervisor 1

Benjamin Ashton

Additional Supervisor 2

Culum Brown

Rights

Copyright: The Author Copyright disclaimer: https://www.mq.edu.au/copyright-disclaimer

Language

English

Extent

57 pages

Former Identifiers

AMIS ID: 361360

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