Exploration is particularly important for young animals, as it enables them to learn to exploit their surroundings. It is likely to be affected by species ecology and social context, though there are few comparative, longitudinal studies that control for effects of early experience. Here, we investigated group level exploration behaviour in two closely related and identically reared, generalist corvid species: common ravens (Corvus corax) and carrion crows (C. corone, C. cornix), during development and across social context. Subjects were repeatedly presented with a range of novel items, whilst alone and in a dyad/ subgroup, at the fledging (1–2 months old), juvenile (3–8 months old) and sub-adult (14–18 months old) stages. Whilst alone, they were also presented with a novel and familiar person, at the fledging and juvenile stages. We expected developmental differences and a facilitating influence of social context on exploration. Developmental differences were present, with both species interacting most frequently with novel items as juveniles, which may relate to major developmental steps, such as dispersal and a neophobia increase as sub-adults. When a conspecific(s) was present, subjects generally interacted more frequently, though took longer to interact, with novel items. Additionally, we found unexpected species differences, with the most striking difference being the crows’ significantly lower rate of interaction with the novel person, though not the familiar person; a species difference that was present from fledging. We discuss these findings by relating to potential differences in the two species ecology and behaviour, such as habitat use and caching proficiency.

中文翻译：

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普通乌鸦和腐肉乌鸦在发育过程中和跨社会环境中探索行为的差异

探索对幼小的动物尤其重要，因为它使它们能够学会利用周围的环境。它很可能受到物种生态和社会背景的影响，尽管很少有比较、纵向的研究来控制早期经验的影响。在这里，我们调查了两种密切相关且饲养方式相同的通才鸦科动物物种：普通乌鸦 (Corvus corax) 和腐肉乌鸦 (C. corone, C.cornix) 在发育过程中和跨社会环境的群体级探索行为。受试者在单独和成对/亚组中，在羽翼未丰的（1-2 个月大）、少年（3-8 个月大）和亚成年（14-18 个月大）时反复呈现一系列新项目阶段。在孤身一人的同时，他们也遇到了一个新奇而熟悉的人，处于羽翼未丰和少年阶段。我们预计发展差异和社会背景对探索的促进影响。存在发育差异，两个物种在幼年时最常与新物品相互作用，这可能与主要的发育步骤有关，例如分散和亚成体的新恐惧症增加。当存在同种物种时，受试者通常会更频繁地与新物品互动，尽管互动时间更长。此外，我们发现了意想不到的物种差异，最显着的差异是乌鸦与新人（尽管不是熟悉的人）的互动率显着降低；羽翼未丰的物种差异。我们通过联系两个物种生态和行为的潜在差异来讨论这些发现，例如栖息地使用和缓存能力。