Aposematic learning in a mammalian predator-prey system

Aposematic prey use conspicuous, high-contrast colour patterns to warn potential predators that they possess a defence mechanism, and signal uniformity is important to promote predator learning and memory retention; however, documented variation in the aposematic pattern of many species exists. Most aposematism studies use avian predators and insect prey; we know little about how mammalian predators learn about and interact with aposematic prey. For the first time, we evaluated aposematic learning in a mammalian predator-prey system. We conditioned captive coyotes, Canis latrans, to contact brown-furred models, and then trained them to avoid black-and-white models resembling striped skunks, Mephitis mephitis, that sprayed a skunk oil solution before testing their ability to generalize to variant patterns mimicking natural skunk coat variation. Coyotes exhibited great variation at all levels of the experiment but generally showed varying levels of wariness of the skunk-striped model and most effectively learned to avoid the model after being sprayed. Subsequently, whiter models elicited greater avoidance than blacker models, suggesting that the strength of the white on black signal influences coyote aposematic generalization. This pioneering study of mammalian aposematic learning suggests that more conspicuous coloration speeds learning for predator avoidance of aposematic prey and enhances generalization. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.