How important are environmental effects compared to genetics on the development of learning abilities? While this nature-nurture debate was studied extensively in humans, we know far less on what determines variations in non‑human animal cognition, especially reptiles. Yet, this is a key question if we want to understand the evolution of cognition, and ultimately the ability of a species to face changes in its environment. As part of her PhD work, which focuses on how human-dominated environments affects behavior and learning abilities of animals, Reut Vardi has visited Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, to collaborate with Prof. Bob Wong's Behavioral Ecology group and with Prof. David Chapple's Environmental Change laboratory. Reut tested pairs of wild-born delicate skink (Lampropholis delicate) mothers and their captive-born offspring in a spatial learning task and found out that offspring learning abilities were not related at all to their mothers’ abilities. The results suggest that conditions faced during early life stages can shape learning far more than genetics, and that stable captive conditions may have a negative effect on the development of spatial learning, raising the question of how ecologically relevant are cognition studies performed on animals raised and bred in captivity for several generations.
