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Probability Learning In Prey Selection With A Great Horned Owl And A Red-Tailed Hawk, Deborah L. Mueller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to examine the hunting strategies of birds of prey in a probability learning situation. One great horned owl and one red-tailed hawk served as subjects. Three boxes and associated perches, each representing different potential prey areas, were placed in a room adjacent to the birds' regular housing and served as test apparatus. One box were required to land on a perch in order to gain access to the associated box and to the potential prey. A discrete-trial, self-correction procedure was used. In Experiment I, Box 1 was loaded with a live laboratory mouse on …