Data and R code used for the GLMM and NBDA analyses in 'Captive Asian short-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus) learn to exploit unfamiliar natural prey'

Foraging plays a vital role in animal life histories, learning whether
unfamiliar food items are palatable is a key part of this process. Animals
that engage in extractive foraging must also learn how to overcome the
protective measures of their prey. While otters (subfamily Lutrinae) are a
taxon known for their extractive foraging behaviour, how they learn about
prey palatability and acquire extractive foraging techniques remains
poorly understood. Here we investigated: (i) how captive Asian
short-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus) learned to interact with, and extract
meat from, unfamiliar natural prey, and (ii) how their exploitation of
such prey compared to their ability to overcome artificial foraging tasks
containing familiar food rewards. Network-based diffusion analysis showed
that otters learned to interact with unfamiliar natural prey by observing
their group mates. However, once interacting with the prey, they learned
to extract the meat mainly asocially. In addition, otters took longer to
overcome the protective measures of unfamiliar natural prey than those of
extractive food puzzles. Asian short-clawed otter populations are
declining in the wild. Increasing our understanding of how they learn to
overcome novel foraging challenges could help develop pre-release training
procedures as part of reintroduction programmes for otter conservation.