T's memory and learned behavior

[Heretic]

Tarantula Collective just had a long format interview with a Phd candidate on her research into Tarantula (and Bee) behaviors. Its on his Youtube channel if you'd like to watch.

Its an outstanding interview and really opens the possibilities up that by a huge margin Tarantulas are a lot more intelligent then first thought. They can even learn and understand their environment. A ton more research is needed, but its clear that Tarantulas can learn and remember.

Just like the Pavlovian response in Dogs, the suggestion was if you can successfully tong feed your T, to start gently tapping the enclosure before opening it up to tong feed. This very well might train the T to understand food is coming and come out for its dinner.

They also linked high stress enclosure situations with aggression. If the enclosure is too basic and doesn't offer a lot of covered area, to hide and remain calm, the T will be more defensive and threatening to you when you do open up the enclosure.

Its funny I just commented on this same thing a few days ago when I posted about increasing the size requirements of out T's enclosures.

 

[Lentulus]

My wife trained me to put the toilet seat down, so anything is possible! Consider posting the link to the video. I believe the Tarantula Collective is a member here although he doesn’t post often.

Here’s a thread Stan Schultz created remarking his observations as well as a collection of others

Tarantulas Got Smarts?

The observation reported by m0lsx (Ping Pong Balls) attracted my attention because it raises so many questions. But rather than risking hijacking that thread I decided to start a new one. Mind you, what I present here is nothing new, just largely ignored. But I find this conjecture immensely...

tarantulaforum.com

Molsx got folks excited about the tarantula Olympic ping pong tournaments. More amusing than anything but still a fun observation of behavior.

Ping Pong Balls.

I have just brought a few multi coloured ping pong balls off ebay for my larger T's. A couple like to play with their water dishes & I thought a small ball would give them something else to move around. Farmers have been doing it for decades with cows & pigs etc. So I thought for a few £'s it...

tarantulaforum.com

 

[Heretic]

T's memory and learned behavior

Tarantula Collective just had a long format interview with a Phd candidate on her research into Tarantula (and Bee) behaviors. Its on his Youtube channel if you'd like to watch. Its an outstanding interview and really opens the possibilities up that by a huge margin Tarantulas are a lot more...

www.tarantulaforum.com

https://www.tarantulaforum.com/threads/ts-memory-and-learned-behavior.35933/

 

[Lawrence b]

That tapping the thongs behaviour just like when they feel vibration on ground or around them when its prey it alerts them or on their webbing .

 

[Heretic]

Yeah the theory is if you tong feed and always tap the cage prior to opening it to tong feed it will come out for its food. It "knows" to look for the tongs and not wqait for the vibrations on its webbing. If you open the cage without taping it, the T will ignore you. This would be the learned behavior. So the T has learned food comes in two ways, on the ground triggering the web and from the sky after it feels the tap on the top.

 

[Jeef]

I dunno. My T. schroderii has a U-shaped burrow. I watched it carry substrate out of one side and drop it down the other for longer than I care to admit.

 

[Heretic]

Hilarious...