Cognition and coexistence : evaluating cognitive traits and human-wildlife conflict in an urban mesocarnivore, the raccoon

Some species can survive in cities despite rapid, human-induced environmental changes often present in urban areas. As global urbanization increases, understanding how wildlife can adjust to living in cities is imperative. Increased urbanization often results in more interactions between humans and wildlife in cities, potentially leading to human-wildlife conflicts. Wildlife can quickly adjust to cities via behavioural and cognitive traits, which enable animals to rapidly respond to environmental heterogeneity present in cities. Here I review ways that technological advances can enable testing wild animal cognition. Next, I tested a common, successful urban mammal, the raccoon, in cognitive traits hypothesized to be beneficial in heterogeneous urban environments. I tested 14 raccoons in a novel repeated innovation testing paradigm. Using a multi-access puzzle box, I found that raccoons would continue to engage in innovative problem solving even when this did not directly lead to an extrinsic reward. I also found that raccoons’ decision making about problem solving followed an exploration-exploitation tradeoff. Then, I tested 5 raccoons in the cylinder task, a classic detour paradigm used to test motor response inhibition. I found the raccoons performed above chance in the cylinder task but performed moderately compared to other species. These results inform the Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis for the evolution of cognitive traits and provide insights to the cognitive traits that may enable raccoons’ success in urban environments. Finally, I surveyed 977 residents of Vancouver, BC, to examine the socio-demographic factors, attractants, and deterrents that impact human-raccoon conflict, perceptions of raccoons, and support for raccoon management in the city. I found that, overall, residents had low support for raccoon management, and lower-density housing and cat ownership best predicted raccoon conflicts. In turn, raccoon conflicts influenced people’s perceptions of raccoons. Nuisance perceptions led to more support for relocation of a ‘problem’ raccoon while beliefs about raccoons’ intelligence and belonging lowered support for raccoon management. Taken together, these results illustrate how animal cognition can interplay with human-wildlife conflict in urban areas, and how urban wildlife can survive and even thrive in cities.