Does Trapping Influence Decision-Making under Ambiguity in White-Lipped Peccary (Tayassu pecari)?

The white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) is an endangered species whose bold anti-predator behaviour in comparison to related species may increase its vulnerability to hunting and predation. We used a judgement bias test to investigate whether captive peccaries that had recently experienced a trapping event made more ‘pessimistic’ decisions under ambiguity. If so, this would indicate (i) that the procedure may induce a negative affective state and hence have welfare implications, and (ii) that the species is able to adopt a cautious response style despite its bold phenotype. Eight individuals were trained to ‘go’ to a baited food bowl when a positive auditory cue (whistle; CS+) was given and to ‘no-go’ when a negative cue (horn A; CS-) was sounded to avoid a loud sound and empty food bowl. An ‘ambiguous’ auditory cue (bell; CSA) was presented to probe decision-making under ambiguity. Individuals were subjected to three tests in the order: T1 (control-no trap), T2 (24h after-trap procedure), and T3 (control-no trap). In each test, each animal was exposed to 10 judgement bias trials of each of the three cue types: CS+,CS-,CS(A). We recorded whether animals reached the food bowl within 60s (‘go’ response) and their response speed (m/s). The animals varied in their responses to the CS(A) cue depending on test type. In all tests, animals made more ‘go’ responses to CS+ than CS(A). During control tests (T1 and T3), the peccaries showed higher proportions of ‘go’ responses to CS(A) than to CS-. In T2, however, the animals showed similar proportions of ‘go’ responses to CS(A) and CS-, treating the ambiguous cue similarly to the negative cue. There were differences in their response speed according to cue type: peccaries were faster to respond to CS+ than to CS- and CS(A). Trapping thus appeared to cause a ‘pessimistic’ judgement bias in peccaries, which may reflect a negative affective state with implications for the welfare and management of captive individuals, and also function to increase caution and survival chances following such an event in the wild environment.