B.C. researchers hunting for Vancouver backyards to run IQ tests on trash pandas | 24CA News

Just how good is the typical metropolis trash panda?

This is the query researchers on the University of British Columbia are hoping to reply, and they’re asking for assist from Vancouver residents to search out out.

Hannah Griebling, a doctoral pupil within the UBC college of forestry, and Dr. Sarah Benson-Amram, assistant professor within the colleges of science and forestry, need to take a look at the cognitive talents of raccoons as a part of an ongoing college mission that explores how animals adapt to city environments.

To do that, they want individuals residing inside metropolis limits to supply up their backyards as testing grounds.

“We are very interested in trying to understand how raccoons are able to live in cities alongside people, and we think that cognition, or their intelligence, may be one of the main reasons why they’re so successful,” mentioned Benson-Amram, talking Tuesday on CBC’s The Early Edition.

Benson-Amram mentioned one of many foremost mission objectives is to assist cut back raccoon contact with people by studying extra about them and the way they be taught to assist design simpler mitigation methods.

And raccoon contact with people is usually a vital downside — from strewing trash to drawing blood.

Earlier this month, raccoons attacked two Vancouver residents, Jake Moss and Emma Yendole, who had been strolling canines inside hours of one another within the west facet Kitsilano neighbourhood. Both individuals suffered accidents, and Moss’s Shih Tzu misplaced an eye fixed.

Yendole, who suffered leg lacerations that required stitches, mentioned she has lived within the space for 20 years and by no means skilled such behaviour.

“I’ve seen raccoons before, many times, and they just kinda skulk away. But this time, it was vicious,” mentioned Yendole.

Benson-Amram mentioned if animals are being fed by individuals, they grow to be extra aggressive towards people, and this could possibly be what sparked these assaults. And the great news is, in case you partake within the mission, researchers will do all of the animal dealing with and testing for you, and the info gleaned might assist forestall future assaults.

The UBC staff will first set reside, humane traps to seize a raccoon which they’ll then sedate and match with a microchip to trace the animal earlier than releasing it. A sequence of challenges will likely be arrange within the yard, and an evening imaginative and prescient digital camera put in to look at.

“We want to assess what we call domain-general cognition, so you can sort of think of it as an IQ test for raccoons,” mentioned Benson-Amram.

The exams are designed to evaluate spatial reminiscence, studying, self-control and behavioural flexibility. One take a look at includes putting in feeding dispensers that acknowledge a raccoon’s microchip and dole out meals to see how effectively the animal remembers to return to it. Researchers will change on and off totally different dispensers to see how rapidly raccoons adapt to new feed sources.

Another experiment includes a pitcher of water the place the degrees are too low for the animal to achieve it and drink. Multiple objects (pebbles, a big stone and a floating ball) are put out to see if the raccoon will uncover that by putting them within the pitcher, the water will rise.

While the plain alternative can be the giant stone, Benson-Amram mentioned raccoons had been noticed selecting the floating ball and utilizing their weight to push it up and down within the pitcher for profitable outcomes.

“Every time we’ve tested them so far on a task, they’ve done really well, but they’ve done really well in surprising ways. They’re very curious, they’re exploratory, and they solve problems in unexpected ways,” mentioned Benson-Amram.

She mentioned there may be little scientific literature about raccoon cognition, and by studying extra, scientists will likely be higher outfitted to advertise harmonious coexistence with people.

If you have an interest in volunteering your yard, e mail city.wildlife@ubc.ca.