A new study has revealed that red-footed tortoises could be taught how to use touchscreens in exchange for strawberry treats.
The tortoises were taught some basic touchscreen skills to understand more about their navigational techniques. The researchers say that the red-footed tortoises grasped the touchscreen basics to get rewarded with strawberries and also transferred the understanding to a real-life setting.
Anna Wilkinson, one of the lead researchers of the study and a senior lecturer of animal cognition at the University of Lincoln in England, says that usually people take reptiles as sluggish and unresponsive creatures. However, the research shows that the reptiles also possess a complex behavior.
The researchers chose red-footed tortoises as test subjects as these animals are always keen and eager to get treats. The red-footed tortoises are usually found in Central and South America and they do not possess hippocampus, which is the brain area linked with spatial navigation, learning and memory. These animals normally rely on medial cortex, an area of the brain that is connected to intricate cognitive behavior as well as decision making capability in people.
With the help of the touchscreens, the researchers tried to understand how the tortoises depended on cues to move around.
The researchers rewarded tortoises with treats when they approached, looked at or pecked at touch-enabled screens. Wilkinson claims that the red-footed tortoises were able to learn how to operate the touchscreen very swiftly.
Wilkinson says that the speed at which the tortoises learned how to use a touchscreen can be compared to the speed of rats and pigeons. Moreover, Wilkinson points out that the red-footed tortoises were able to train faster even than dogs.
The researchers reveal that the reason why the tortoises learn fast is because they do not receive care from their parents when young. They have to make their decision regarding shelter and food just after they hatch.
"In the main experiment, the tortoises pecked a red triangle in the center of the touch screen. When two blue circles flashed, they had to consistently peck either the circle on the right or the one on the left to get a treat," per Live Science.
The researchers disclosed that all four tortoises used for the study mastered using touchscreens. However, two subjects stopped cooperating because they were comparatively smaller than the other two and were not able to reach the touchscreens properly.
