Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2023
Early environmental experience can have significant effects on an animal's ability to adapt to challenges in later life. Prior experience of specific situations may facilitate the development of behavioural skills which can be applied in similar situations to later life. In addition, exposure to a more complex environment may enhance cognitive development (eg increased synaptic density), which can then speed the acquisition of new behavioural responses when faced with novel challenges (Grandin 1989).