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Teichroeb JA, Smeltzer EA, Mathur V, Anderson KA, Fowler EJ, Adams FV, Vasey EN, Tamara Kumpan L, Stead SM, Arseneau-Robar TJM. How can we apply decision-making theories to wild animal behavior? Predictions arising from dual process theory and Bayesian decision theory. Am J Primatol 2023:e23565. [PMID: 37839050 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Our understanding of decision-making processes and cognitive biases is ever increasing, thanks to an accumulation of testable models and a large body of research over the last several decades. The vast majority of this work has been done in humans and laboratory animals because these study subjects and situations allow for tightly controlled experiments. However, it raises questions about how this knowledge can be applied to wild animals in their complex environments. Here, we review two prominent decision-making theories, dual process theory and Bayesian decision theory, to assess the similarities in these approaches and consider how they may apply to wild animals living in heterogenous environments within complicated social groupings. In particular, we wanted to assess when wild animals are likely to respond to a situation with a quick heuristic decision and when they are likely to spend more time and energy on the decision-making process. Based on the literature and evidence from our multi-destination routing experiments on primates, we find that individuals are likely to make quick, heuristic decisions when they encounter routine situations, or signals/cues that accurately predict a certain outcome, or easy problems that experience or evolutionary history has prepared them for. Conversely, effortful decision-making is likely in novel or surprising situations, when signals and cues have unpredictable or uncertain relationships to an outcome, and when problems are computationally complex. Though if problems are overly complex, satisficing via heuristics is likely, to avoid costly mental effort. We present hypotheses for how animals with different socio-ecologies may have to distribute their cognitive effort. Finally, we examine the conservation implications and potential cognitive overload for animals experiencing increasingly novel situations caused by current human-induced rapid environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie A Teichroeb
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Eve A Smeltzer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Virendra Mathur
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Karyn A Anderson
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Erica J Fowler
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Frances V Adams
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Eric N Vasey
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ludmila Tamara Kumpan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Samantha M Stead
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - T Jean M Arseneau-Robar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
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2
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Masi S, Pouydebat E, San-Galli A, Meulman E, Breuer T, Reeves J, Tennie C. Free hand hitting of stone-like objects in wild gorillas. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11981. [PMID: 35840637 PMCID: PMC9287431 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15542-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The earliest stone tool types, sharp flakes knapped from stone cores, are assumed to have played a crucial role in human cognitive evolution. Flaked stone tools have been observed to be accidentally produced when wild monkeys use handheld stones as tools. Holding a stone core in hand and hitting it with another in the absence of flaking, free hand hitting, has been considered a requirement for producing sharp stone flakes by hitting stone on stone, free hand percussion. We report on five observations of free hand hitting behavior in two wild western gorillas, using stone-like objects (pieces of termite mound). Gorillas are therefore the second non-human lineage primate showing free-hand hitting behavior in the wild, and ours is the first report for free hand hitting behavior in wild apes. This study helps to shed light on the morphofunctional and cognitive requirements for the emergence of stone tool production as it shows that a prerequisite for free hand percussion (namely, free hand hitting) is part of the spontaneous behavioral repertoire of one of humans' closest relatives (gorillas). However, the ability to combine free hand hitting with the force, precision, and accuracy needed to facilitate conchoidal fracture in free hand percussion may still have been a critical watershed for hominin evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shelly Masi
- Eco-Anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France. .,World Wide Fund for Nature - Germany, Reinhardstrasse 18, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- Department Adaptations du Vivant, UMR7179 MECADEV CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 55 rue Buffon, Paris, France
| | - Aurore San-Galli
- Eco-Anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France
| | - Ellen Meulman
- Eco-Anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France
| | - Thomas Breuer
- Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY, 10460, USA.,World Wide Fund for Nature - Germany, Reinhardstrasse 18, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jonathan Reeves
- Department for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
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3
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Gérard C, Bardo A, Guéry JP, Pouydebat E, Simmen B, Narat V. Manipulative repertoire of bonobos (Pan paniscus) in spontaneous feeding situation. Am J Primatol 2022; 84:e23383. [PMID: 35417066 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23383] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Comparative behavioral studies of hand use amongst primate species, including humans, have been central in research on evolutionary mechanisms. In particular, the manipulative abilities of our closest relatives, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), have been widely described in various contexts, showing a high level of dexterity both in zoo and in natural conditions. In contrast, the study of bonobos' manipulative abilities has almost exclusively been carried out in experimental contexts related to tool use. The objective of the present study is to describe the richness of the manipulative repertoire of zoo-housed bonobos, in a spontaneous feeding context including various physical substrates to gain a larger insight into our evolutionary past. Our study describes a great variety of grasping postures and grip associations in bonobos, close to the range of manipulative repertoire in chimpanzees, confirming that the two species are not markedly different in terms of cognitive and morphological constraints associated with food manipulation. We also observed differences in manipulative behaviors between juveniles and adults, indicating a greater diversity in grip associations and grasping postures used in isolation with age, and a sex-biased use of tools with females using tools more often than males. These results are consistent with the previous results in the Pan genus and reinforce the hypothesis that the evolutionary mechanisms underlying the flexibility of manipulative behaviors are shared by both species and that these ecological strategies would have already evolved in their common ancestor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Gérard
- Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Ameline Bardo
- Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme Préhistorique (HNHP), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France.,Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | | | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (MECADEV), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Bruno Simmen
- Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Victor Narat
- Eco-anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université de Paris, Paris, France
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Dhananjaya T, Das S, Vyas AK, Gahlot P, Singh M. Extent of encounter with an embedded food influences how it is processed by an urbanizing macaque species. BEHAVIOUR 2022. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Rapid urbanization exerts novel adaptive pressures on animals at the interface of natural and altered environments. Urban animals often rely on synthetic foods that require skilled extraction and flexible processing. We studied how synthetic treatment of an embedded food, peanut, determined its extraction and processing across groups of bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) differing in encounter and familiarity with peanut. The possibility of the application of processing methods to similar foods was also tested. We found encounter- and form (native/shelled/skinned)-specific familiarity to peanuts, state (raw/boiled/roasted)-specific distinction in skinning, and encounter- and state-specific differences in methods of skinning. The group with the highest encounter with peanuts exhibited novel and manipulatively complex processing. Novel processing was also extended to peas and chickpeas. Our study establishes a strong relationship between familiarity with the condition of food and the processing methods used and further, demonstrates the probable role of categorization in extension of novel methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tejeshwar Dhananjaya
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
| | - Sayantan Das
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
- Wildlife Information Liaison Development, Coimbatore-641035, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Amal K. Vyas
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
| | - Prakhar Gahlot
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
| | - Mewa Singh
- Biopsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Institute of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru-570006, India
- Zoo Outreach Organization, Thiruvannamalai Nagar, Saravanampatti, Coimbatore-641035, Tamil Nadu, India
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Tamura M, Akomo-Okoue EF. Hand preference in unimanual and bimanual coordinated tasks in wild western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) feeding on African ginger (Zingiberaceae). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175:531-545. [PMID: 33429467 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2020] [Revised: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Bimanual coordinated behaviors are critical for detecting robust individual hand preference in nonhuman primates but are particularly challenging to observe in the wild. This study focuses on spontaneous feeding behavior on African ginger (Aframomum sp. and Renealmia sp.), which involves a unimanual task (reaching and pulling out a ginger stem) and a bimanual coordinated task (extracting pith from a ginger stem) by wild western lowland gorillas. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study subjects were 21 gorillas in the Moukalaba-Doudou National Park, Gabon. We examined whether they exhibit significant hand preference at the individual and group levels for both tasks. RESULTS Sixteen gorillas showed significant hand preference in the unimanual task, whereas all 21 individuals showed significant hand preference in the bimanual coordinated task. Hand preference was significantly stronger in the bimanual coordinated task than in the unimanual task. It is noteworthy that gorillas showed a significant right-hand preference at the group level for the bimanual task (roughly 70% of the subjects). DISCUSSION This study confirmed that bimanual coordinated tasks are more sensitive in detecting hand preferences in nonhuman primates. In addition to the bimanual nature of the task, the precision grip for processing and the importance of African ginger as a food resource might influence the expression of hand preference. Evidence of a group-level right-hand preference may support the "postural origins theory." Because all wild African great apes feed on the pith of African ginger, comparing this task and its hand preferences can contribute toward a better understanding of the evolution of handedness in Hominidae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masaya Tamura
- Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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6
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Gürbüz RB, Lycett SJ. Could woodworking have driven lithic tool selection? J Hum Evol 2021; 156:102999. [PMID: 34022498 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Revised: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Understanding early stone tools, particularly relationships between form and function, is fundamental to understanding the behavioral evolution of early hominins. The oldest-claimed flake tools date to ca. 3.3 million years ago, and their development may represent a key step in hominin evolution. Flake form, and its relationship to function, has long been a focus of Paleolithic studies, almost exclusively with respect to meat acquisition. However, evidence for woodworking is now known from sites dating to 1.5 Ma. Additionally, Pan troglodytes are known to manufacture wooden tools for hunting and foraging, thus creating a phylogenetic (parsimony) argument for more ancient woodworking. However, few studies examining woodworking and Paleolithic tools have been completed to date. Indeed, it remains an open question whether woodworking may have instigated specific selective demands on the form of early stone tools. Here, we conducted an experiment testing the comparative woodworking efficiency (measured by time) of small and large flakes. Two groups of participants used either a relatively small or large unretouched flake to remove a predefined area from standardized samples of wood. Those using larger flakes were significantly more efficient (i.e., required less time) during this woodworking task. Our results demonstrate that larger flakes could have been preferentially chosen by hominins for woodworking, consistent with previous data generated experimentally in other (non-woodworking) tasks. Moreover, the production of relatively large flakes, such as those at Lomekwi, could have been motivated by woodworking, rather than, or in addition to, butchery. Such issues may also have encouraged the use of Levallois production strategies in later times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Biermann Gürbüz
- Department of Anthropology, Ellicott Complex, 380 Academic Center, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA.
| | - Stephen J Lycett
- Department of Anthropology, Ellicott Complex, 380 Academic Center, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14261, USA
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7
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Bandini E, Tennie C. Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9877. [PMID: 33033659 PMCID: PMC7521350 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Bandini
- Department of Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department of Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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8
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Dunmore CJ, Bardo A, Skinner MM, Kivell TL. Trabecular variation in the first metacarpal and manipulation in hominids. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2019; 171:219-241. [PMID: 31762017 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Revised: 10/27/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The dexterity of fossil hominins is often inferred by assessing the comparative manual anatomy and behaviors of extant hominids, with a focus on the thumb. The aim of this study is to test whether trabecular structure is consistent with what is currently known about habitually loaded thumb postures across extant hominids. MATERIALS AND METHODS We analyze first metacarpal (Mc1) subarticular trabecular architecture in humans (Homo sapiens, n = 10), bonobos (Pan paniscus, n = 10), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes, n = 11), as well as for the first time, gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla, n = 10) and orangutans (Pongo sp., n = 1, Pongo abelii, n = 3 and Pongo pygmaeus, n = 5). Using a combination of subarticular and whole-epiphysis approaches, we test for significant differences in relative trabecular bone volume (RBV/TV) and degree of anisotropy (DA) between species. RESULTS Humans have significantly greater RBV/TV on the radiopalmar aspects of both the proximal and distal Mc1 subarticular surfaces and greater DA throughout the Mc1 head than other hominids. Nonhuman great apes have greatest RBV/TV on the ulnar aspect of the Mc1 head and the palmar aspect of the Mc1 base. Gorillas possessed significantly lower DA in the Mc1 head than any other taxon in our sample. DISCUSSION These results are consistent with abduction of the thumb during forceful "pad-to-pad" precision grips in humans and, in nonhuman great apes, a habitually adducted thumb that is typically used in precision and power grips. This comparative context will help infer habitual manipulative and locomotor grips in fossil hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Dunmore
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Ameline Bardo
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Matthew M Skinner
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tracy L Kivell
- Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.,Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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9
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie L Canington
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
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10
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Neufuss J, Robbins MM, Baeumer J, Humle T, Kivell TL. Manual skills for food processing by mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Neufuss
- Animal Postcranial Evolution (APE) Laboratory, Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Martha M Robbins
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Jana Baeumer
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tatyana Humle
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - Tracy L Kivell
- Animal Postcranial Evolution (APE) Laboratory, Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology & Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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11
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Bardo A, Cornette R, Borel A, Pouydebat E. Manual function and performance in humans, gorillas, and orangutans during the same tool use task. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2017; 164:821-836. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2017] [Revised: 06/13/2017] [Accepted: 09/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ameline Bardo
- Paris Descartes University, Sorbonne Paris Cité; Paris 75006 France
- Department of Ecology and Management of Biodiversity; UMR 7179-CNRS/MNHN, MECADEV; Paris 75321 France
| | - Raphaël Cornette
- Institute of Systematic; Evolution, Biodiversity (ISYEB), UMR 7205-CNRS/MNHN/UPMC/EPHE, National Museum of Natural History; Paris 75005 France
| | - Antony Borel
- Department of Prehistory; UMR 7194-CNRS-MNHN, Musée de l'Homme; Paris 75116 France
| | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- Department of Ecology and Management of Biodiversity; UMR 7179-CNRS/MNHN, MECADEV; Paris 75321 France
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12
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Behavioral Variation in Gorillas: Evidence of Potential Cultural Traits. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0160483. [PMID: 27603668 PMCID: PMC5014408 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2016] [Accepted: 07/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The question of whether any species except humans exhibits culture has generated much debate, partially due to the difficulty of providing conclusive evidence from observational studies in the wild. A starting point for demonstrating the existence of culture that has been used for many species including chimpanzees and orangutans is to show that there is geographic variation in the occurrence of particular behavioral traits inferred to be a result of social learning and not ecological or genetic influences. Gorillas live in a wide variety of habitats across Africa and they exhibit flexibility in diet, behavior, and social structure. Here we apply the ‘method of exclusion’ to look for the presence/absence of behaviors that could be considered potential cultural traits in well-habituated groups from five study sites of the two species of gorillas. Of the 41 behaviors considered, 23 met the criteria of potential cultural traits, of which one was foraging related, nine were environment related, seven involved social interactions, five were gestures, and one was communication related. There was a strong positive correlation between behavioral dissimilarity and geographic distance among gorilla study sites. Roughly half of all variation in potential cultural traits was intraspecific differences (i.e. variability among sites within a species) and the other 50% of potential cultural traits were differences between western and eastern gorillas. Further research is needed to investigate if the occurrence of these traits is influenced by social learning. These findings emphasize the importance of investigating cultural traits in African apes and other species to shed light on the origin of human culture.
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13
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Bardo A, Borel A, Meunier H, Guéry JP, Pouydebat E. Behavioral and functional strategies during tool use tasks in bonobos. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2016; 161:125-40. [PMID: 27311774 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2015] [Revised: 04/27/2016] [Accepted: 05/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Different primate species have developed extensive capacities for grasping and manipulating objects. However, the manual abilities of primates remain poorly known from a dynamic point of view. The aim of the present study was to quantify the functional and behavioral strategies used by captive bonobos (Pan paniscus) during tool use tasks. The study was conducted on eight captive bonobos which we observed during two tool use tasks: food extraction from a large piece of wood and food recovery from a maze. We focused on grasping postures, in-hand movements, the sequences of grasp postures used that have not been studied in bonobos, and the kind of tools selected. Bonobos used a great variety of grasping postures during both tool use tasks. They were capable of in-hand movement, demonstrated complex sequences of contacts, and showed more dynamic manipulation during the maze task than during the extraction task. They arrived on the location of the task with the tool already modified and used different kinds of tools according to the task. We also observed individual manual strategies. Bonobos were thus able to develop in-hand movements similar to humans and chimpanzees, demonstrated dynamic manipulation, and they responded to task constraints by selecting and modifying tools appropriately, usually before they started the tasks. These results show the necessity to quantify object manipulation in different species to better understand their real manual specificities, which is essential to reconstruct the evolution of primate manual abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ameline Bardo
- Paris Descartes University, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, 75006, France.,Department of Ecology and Management of Biodiversity, UMR 7179-CNRS/MNHN, MECADEV, Paris, 75321, France
| | - Antony Borel
- Department of Prehistory, UMR 7194-CNRS-MNHN, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, 75116, France
| | - Hélène Meunier
- Primatology Center of Strasbourg University, Fort Foch, Niederhausbergen, 67207, France.,Laboratory of Cognitive and Adaptative Neuroscience, UMR 7364-CNRS/, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, 67000, France
| | | | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- Department of Ecology and Management of Biodiversity, UMR 7179-CNRS/MNHN, MECADEV, Paris, 75321, France
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14
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Stone Tools: Evidence of Something in Between Culture and Cumulative Culture? THE NATURE OF CULTURE 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-7426-0_10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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