 Very few trials led to success in this condition as otters pulled the rope as soon as they could.The researchers concluded from this that the otters did not understand the necessary elements of successful cooperation, or, alternatively, they understood but were unable to inhibit the desire to reach for the food.When the same task was repeated with a longer rope, success rate did go up, but the otters appeared unable to learn from this and be successful in the next task with the rope length restored to the original length.