Date of Award
Spring 5-7-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Dr. Matthew Grober
Second Advisor
Dr. Rebecca Snyder
Third Advisor
Dr. Andrew Clancy
Abstract
Color vision can affect our assumptions of an animals’ natural history. It can be determined by testing sensory or perception ability, which was employed here. Two Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea), of opposite sexes, housed at ZooAtlanta, were trained via operant conditioning to discriminate stimuli within 7 tasks, primarily in a two-choice fashion. Varying shades of the colors blue, green and red were tested against varying greys, all which differed in intensity, served as the stimuli for the first 4 tasks. The remaining 3 tasks, the colors were tested against each other. The male reached criterion for the first 6 tasks, indicating an ability to discriminate the stimuli based on color. The female however participated only in 2, and could not achieve criterion as set, though there were indications of discrimination ability. Taken together with sensory work on two related otter species, Asian small-clawed otters possess color vision.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1957686
Recommended Citation
Svoke, Joseph T., "Perception of Color Vision In the Asian Small-Clawed Otter (Aonyx cinerea)." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1957686