Effects of early-life experience on innovation and problem-solving in captive coyotes

Early-life experience often shapes behaviors like innovation and exploration. These behaviors are important to animals encountering novel food resources in diverse habitats, such as mesocarnivores in urban areas. To understand if early-life experiences impact later-life behavior, we examined how coyotes (Canis latrans) responded to a multi-access puzzle box at two life stages: pup (similar to 7 weeks) and dispersal (similar to 10 months). We first exposed pups, still living with their parents and littermates, to a baited puzzle box. At dispersal age, we again tested both these pups and an age-matched control group that was not exposed to the puzzle box as pups, both as individuals and with their pair-mate. We quantified problem-solving capability, latency to approach, and time spent in proximity to the puzzle box. Most pup litters solved two of the three access points, but no dispersal-age coyotes solved any access point. The amount of time dispersal-age coyotes spent near the box during pair-testing increased with (1) more time spent near the box during single-testing, (2) more time their pair-mate spent near the box during pair-testing, and (3) if their pair-mate came from a litter that previously solved the box. These results suggest that early-life experience and social interactions influence exploratory behavior at dispersal age, but coyotes exhibit increased avoidance behavior at this life stage, which corresponds with the life stage that overall survivorship decreases. Our study provides insight into how early-life experiences shape adult behavior in mesocarnivores. Significance statement Exploratory behaviors, including risk-taking and problem-solving, are likely important characteristics for urban-dwelling species, such as coyotes, but how development and sociality influence these traits is poorly understood. Therefore, we presented coyotes with a puzzle box as pups with their littermates and again at dispersal age, both individually and with their pair-mate. Three of four litters solved the puzzle box when housed with their littermates, but no coyotes solved at dispersal age when housed alone or with their pair-mate. Notably, there was a general decrease in exploratory behavior and innovation from pup to dispersal age. However, we found that previous experiences during puzzle-box trials positively influenced the amount of time coyote pairs spent near the puzzle box at dispersal age. Our results suggest that pursuing food resources in novel situations may be constrained by developmental processes, possibly in response to prioritizing future opportunities to reproduce.