1
|
Pritchard AJ, Capitanio JP, Del Rosso L, McCowan B, Vandeleest JJ. Repeatability of measures of behavioral organization over two years in captive infant rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta. Am J Primatol 2024; 86:e23591. [PMID: 38212935 PMCID: PMC11010731 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2023] [Revised: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Individual differences of infant temperament have been associated with future health outcomes that provide explanatory power beyond adult personality. Despite the importance of such a metric, our developmental understanding of personality-like traits is poor. Therefore, we examined whether young primates show consistency in personality traits throughout development. We replicated a Biobehavioral Assessment (BBA) at three time periods: 3-4 months, 1 year, and 2 years of age in 47 rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) subjects from large mixed-sex outdoor social housing units at the California National Primate Research Center. We report results for tests focused on responses and adaptation to the temporary separation and relocation, responses to a threatening stimulus, and ratings of overall temperament. We found consistently repeatable associations in measures of Emotionality; these associations were stronger in males, but also present in females, and broadly consistent between Years 1 and 2. We also explored whether behavioral responses to this experimental relocation might be influenced by their experience being relocated for other reasons (i.e., hospitalizations) as individuals' responses might be influenced by similar experiences to the BBA procedure. Only locomotion, during one of the assessments, was associated with past hospitalization events. Overall, repeatability in Emotionality-associated behaviors was evident across the 2 years, in both sexes. We did, however, find evidence of the emergence of sex differences via differentiated expression of behavioral responses during the BBA. We emphasize that there is likely contextual nuance in the use of these BBA factor-associated behaviors. Further research is required to determine whether and how shifts occur in underlying factor structure and the expression of associated behaviors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander J. Pritchard
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - John P. Capitanio
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Laura Del Rosso
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Brenda McCowan
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, California, USA
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Jessica J. Vandeleest
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Earl SR, Johnson LE, Grant E, Kasubhai A, López-Sepulcre A, Yang Y, Gordon S. Disentangling genetic, plastic and social learning drivers of sex-specific foraging behaviour in Trinidadian guppies ( Poecilia reticulata). Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232950. [PMID: 38471559 PMCID: PMC10932697 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary biologists have long been interested in parsing out the roles of genetics, plasticity and their interaction on adaptive trait divergence. Since males and females often have different ecological and reproductive roles, separating how their traits are shaped by interactions between their genes and environment is necessary and important. Here, we disentangle the sex-specific effects of genetic divergence, developmental plasticity, social learning and contextual plasticity on foraging behaviour in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) adapted to high- or low-predation habitats. We reared second-generation siblings from both predation regimes with or without predator chemical cues, and with adult conspecifics from either high- or low-predation habitats. We then quantified their foraging behaviour in water with and without predator chemical cues. We found that high-predation guppies forage more efficiently than low-predation guppies, but this behavioural difference is context-dependent and shaped by different mechanisms in males and females. Higher foraging efficiency in high-predation females is largely genetically determined, and to a smaller extent socially learned from conspecifics. However, in high-predation males, higher foraging efficiency is plastically induced by predator cues during development. Our study demonstrates sex-specific differences in genetic versus plastic responses in foraging behaviour, a trait of significance in organismal fitness and ecosystem dynamics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shayna R. Earl
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
| | - Lauren E. Johnson
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Elly Grant
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Avika Kasubhai
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Andrés López-Sepulcre
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Yusan Yang
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Swanne Gordon
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Mörchen J, Luhn F, Wassmer O, Kunz JA, Kulik L, van Noordwijk MA, Rianti P, Rahmaeti T, Utami Atmoko SS, Widdig A, Schuppli C. Orangutan males make increased use of social learning opportunities, when resource availability is high. iScience 2024; 27:108940. [PMID: 38333693 PMCID: PMC10850741 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans' colonization of diverse habitats relied on our ancestors' abilities to innovate and share innovations with others. While ecological impacts on innovations are well studied, their effect on social learning remains poorly understood. We examined how food availability affects social learning in migrant orangutan unflanged males, who may learn from local orangutans through peering (i.e., observational social learning). We analyzed 1,384 dyadic associations, including 360 peering events, among 46 wild Sumatran orangutan and 25 Bornean orangutan males, collected over 18 years. Migrants' peering rates significantly increased with higher food availability and time spent in proximity to others. Furthermore, migrants in the more sociable Sumatran population exhibited significantly higher peering rates compared to the Borneans, suggesting intrinsic and/or developmental effects of food availability on social learning. These findings emphasize the importance of investigating ecological effects on social learning on the immediate, developmental, and intrinsic levels for our understanding of cultural evolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julia Mörchen
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78467 Konstanz, Germany
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Primate Behaviour and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Frances Luhn
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Olivia Wassmer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Julia A. Kunz
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology of Montpellier (ISEM), University of Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, 34095 Montpellier, France
| | - Lars Kulik
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Maria A. van Noordwijk
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Comparative Socioecology, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78467 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Puji Rianti
- Primate Research Center, Institute of Research and Community Service, IPB University, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
- Animal Biosystematics and Ecology Division, Department of Biology, IPB University, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
| | - Tri Rahmaeti
- Department of Biology, Graduate Program, Faculty of Biology and Agriculture, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta 12520, Indonesia
| | - Sri Suci Utami Atmoko
- Department of Biology, Graduate Program, Faculty of Biology and Agriculture, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta 12520, Indonesia
| | - Anja Widdig
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Primate Behaviour and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Caroline Schuppli
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78467 Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Dongre P, Lanté G, Cantat M, Canteloup C, van de Waal E. Role of immigrant males and muzzle contacts in the uptake of a novel food by wild vervet monkeys. eLife 2024; 13:e76486. [PMID: 38192204 PMCID: PMC10776085 DOI: 10.7554/elife.76486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Abstract
The entry into and uptake of information in social groups is critical for behavioral adaptation by long-lived species in rapidly changing environments. We exposed five groups of wild vervet monkeys to a novel food to investigate the innovation of processing and consuming it. We report that immigrant males innovated in two groups, and an infant innovated in one group. In two other groups, immigrant males imported the innovation from their previous groups. We compared uptake between groups with respect to the initial innovator to examine the extent to which dispersing males could introduce an innovation into groups. Uptake of the novel food was faster in groups where immigrant males ate first rather than the infants. Younger individuals were more likely overall, and faster, to subsequently acquire the novel food. We also investigated the role of muzzle contact behavior in information seeking around the novel food. Muzzle contacts decreased in frequency over repeated exposures to the novel food. Muzzle contacts were initiated the most by naïve individuals, high rankers, and juveniles; and were targeted most towards knowledgeable individuals and high rankers, and the least towards infants. We highlight the potential importance of dispersers in rapidly exploiting novel resources among populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pooja Dongre
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game ReserveKwaZulu NatalSouth Africa
| | - Gaëlle Lanté
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
- University of PoitiersPoitiersFrance
| | - Mathieu Cantat
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game ReserveKwaZulu NatalSouth Africa
| | - Charlotte Canteloup
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game ReserveKwaZulu NatalSouth Africa
- Laboratory of Cognitive & Adaptive Neurosciences, CNRS - UMR 7364, University of StrasbourgStrasbourgFrance
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of LausanneLausanneSwitzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game ReserveKwaZulu NatalSouth Africa
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Sauciuc GA, Persson T. Empirical challenges from the comparative and developmental literature to the Shared Intentionality Theory - a review of alternative data on recursive mind reading, prosociality, imitation and cumulative culture. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1157137. [PMID: 37901066 PMCID: PMC10613111 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1157137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans have an irresistible inclination to coordinate actions with others, leading to species-unique forms of cooperation. According to the highly influential Shared Intentionality Theory (SITh), human cooperation is made possible by shared intentionality (SI), typically defined as a suite of socio-cognitive and motivational traits for sharing psychological states with others, thereby enabling individuals to engage in joint action in the mutually aware pursuit of shared goals. SITh theorises that SI evolved as late as 400,000 years ago, when our ancestors (in particular, Homo heidelbergensis) turned to a kind of food procurement that obligatorily required joint coordinated action. SI is, thus, hypothesized to be absent in other extant species, including our closest genetic relatives, the nonhuman great apes ("apes"). According to SITh, ape psychology is exclusively driven by individualistic motivations, as opposed to human psychology which is uniquely driven by altruistic motivations. The evolutionary scenario proposed by SITh builds on a series of findings from socio-cognitive research with apes and human children, and on the assumption that abilities expressed early in human development are human universals, unlikely to have been shaped by socio-cultural influences. Drawing on the primatological and developmental literature, we provide a systematic - albeit selective - review of SITh-inconsistent findings concerning psychological and behavioural traits theorised to be constitutive of SI. The findings we review pertain to all three thematic clusters typically addressed in SITh: (i) recursive mind reading; (ii) prosociality; (iii) imitation and cumulative culture. We conclude that such alternative data undermine two core SITh claims: the late evolutionary emergence of SI and the radical divide between ape and human psychology. We also discuss several conceptual and methodological limitations that currently hamper reliable comparative research on SI, in particular those engendered by Western-centric biases in the social sciences, where an overreliance on Western samples has promoted the formulation of Western-centric conceptualisations, operationalisations and methodologies.
Collapse
|
6
|
Whiten A. Zones of proximal cognitive assimilation in the transmission of culture: Comment on "To copy or not to copy? That is the question! From chimpanzees to the foundation of human technological culture" by Héctor M. Manrique and Michael J. Walker. Phys Life Rev 2023; 46:88-91. [PMID: 37352659 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9JP, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Preuschoft S, Marshall AJ, Scott L, Badriyah SN, Purba MDT, Yuliani E, Corbi P, Yassir I, Wibawanto MA, Kalcher-Sommersguter E. The Development of Feeding Competence in Rehabilitant Orphaned Orangutans and How to Measure It. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:2111. [PMID: 37443909 DOI: 10.3390/ani13132111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2023] [Revised: 06/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
For critically endangered species, restorative conservation becomes increasingly important. Successful re-introduction of rescued wild orangutan orphans requires rehabilitation mimicking maternal rearing in the wild. Feeding competence-what to eat, where and when to find food-needs to be learned before re-introduction. We observed seven orphans (2-10 years old) for a period of 3 years during their rehabilitation at the Yayasan Jejak Pulang forest school. Of the 111 plant genera eaten by the orphans, 92 percent were known orangutan food plants. Five plant genera were eaten by all orphans in over 90 percent of the months within the observation period. The Fruit Availability Index (FAI) was used to predict which parts of a plant were consumed by the orphans. We found that the orphans ate primarily fruit when the FAI was high, but consumed more young leaves, cambium, and pith when FAI was low. Thus, the orphans exhibited food choices very similar to mature wild orangutans and appropriate to forest productivity. The orphans' acquisition of feeding competence was facilitated by their immersion into a natural forest environment in combination with possibilities for observational learning from conspecifics as well as caregivers modelling food processing and consumption.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Signe Preuschoft
- Ape Protection Unit, Four Paws, 22767 Hamburg, Germany
- Yayasan Jejak Pulang, Samboja 75276, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
| | - Andrew J Marshall
- Department of Anthropology, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Program in the Environment, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Lorna Scott
- Faculty of Biology and Psychology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 37083 Göttingen, Germany
| | | | | | - Erma Yuliani
- Yayasan Jejak Pulang, Samboja 75276, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
| | - Paloma Corbi
- Ape Protection Unit, Four Paws, 22767 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Ishak Yassir
- BPSILHK, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Samboja 75276, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
| | - M Ari Wibawanto
- BKSDA Kalimantan Timur, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Samarinda 75243, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
| | - Elfriede Kalcher-Sommersguter
- Ape Protection Unit, Four Paws International, 1150 Vienna, Austria
- Institute of Biology, University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Roatti V, Cowlishaw G, Huchard E, Carter A. Social network inheritance and differentiation in wild baboons. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230219. [PMID: 37234491 PMCID: PMC10206475 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Immatures' social development may be fundamental to understand important biological processes, such as social information transmission through groups, that can vary with age and sex. Our aim was to determine how social networks change with age and differ between sexes in wild immature baboons, group-living primates that readily learn socially. Our results show that immature baboons inherited their mothers' networks and differentiated from them as they aged, increasing their association with partners of similar age and the same sex. Males were less bonded to their matriline and became more peripheral with age compared to females. Our results may pave the way to further studies testing a new hypothetical framework: in female-philopatric societies, social information transmission may be constrained at the matrilineal level by age- and sex-driven social clustering.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vittoria Roatti
- Anthropology Department, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
- Zoological Society of London, Institute of Zoology, London NW1 4RY, UK
| | - Guy Cowlishaw
- Zoological Society of London, Institute of Zoology, London NW1 4RY, UK
| | - Elise Huchard
- Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, CNRS, University of Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Alecia Carter
- Anthropology Department, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Amici F, Ersson-Lembeck M, Holodynski M, Liebal K. Face to face interactions in chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes) and human ( Homo sapiens) mother-infant dyads. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210478. [PMID: 36871581 PMCID: PMC9985962 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Human mothers interact with their infants in different ways. In Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) societies, face-to-face interactions and mutual gazes are especially frequent, yet little is known about their developmental trajectories and if they differ from those of other primates. Using a cross-species developmental approach, we compared mother-infant interactions in 10 dyads of urban humans from a WEIRD society (Homo sapiens) and 10 dyads of captive zoo-based chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), when infants were one, six and 12 months old. Results showed that face-to-face interactions with mutual gaze events were common in both groups throughout the infant's first year of life. The developmental trajectories of maternal and infants' looks partially differed between species, but mutual gaze events were overall longer in humans than in chimpanzees. Mutual gazes were also more frequent in humans, peaking at six months in humans, while increasing with age in chimpanzees. The duration and frequency of mutual gazes varied across contexts in both groups, with mutual gazes being longer during caring/grooming and feeding contexts. These findings confirm that some aspects of early socio-cognitive development are shared by humans and other primates, and highlight the importance of combining developmental and cross-species approaches to better understand the evolutionary roots of parenting behaviour. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Face2face: advancing the science of social interaction'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Federica Amici
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biology, Human Biology and Primate Cognition, Leipzig University, Talstrasse 33, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Manuela Ersson-Lembeck
- Department of Education and Psychology, Comparative Developmental Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Manfred Holodynski
- Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Psychology in Education, University of Münster, Fliednerstrasse 21, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Katja Liebal
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biology, Human Biology and Primate Cognition, Leipzig University, Talstrasse 33, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Education and Psychology, Comparative Developmental Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Robbins MM. Reflections on connections. Primates 2023; 64:191-197. [PMID: 36867278 PMCID: PMC9982802 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-023-01059-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Martha M Robbins
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leizpig, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Garcia-Nisa I, Evans C, Kendal RL. The influence of task difficulty, social tolerance and model success on social learning in Barbary macaques. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1176. [PMID: 36670123 PMCID: PMC9860066 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26699-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite playing a pivotal role in the inception of animal culture studies, macaque social learning is surprisingly understudied. Social learning is important to survival and influenced by dominance and affiliation in social animals. Individuals generally rely on social learning when individual learning is costly, and selectively use social learning strategies influencing what is learned and from whom. Here, we combined social learning experiments, using extractive foraging tasks, with network-based diffusion analysis (using various social relationships) to investigate the transmission of social information in free-ranging Barbary macaques. We also investigated the influence of task difficulty on reliance on social information and evidence for social learning strategies. Social learning was detected for the most difficult tasks only, with huddling relations outside task introductions, and observation networks during task introductions, predicting social transmission. For the most difficult task only, individuals appeared to employ a social learning strategy of copying the most successful demonstrator observed. Results indicate that high social tolerance represents social learning opportunities and influences social learning processes. The reliance of Barbary macaques on social learning, and cues of model-success supports the costly information hypothesis. Our study provides more statistical evidence to the previous claims indicative of culture in macaques.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Garcia-Nisa
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
| | - Cara Evans
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Rachel L Kendal
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
From whom do animals learn? A meta-analysis on model-based social learning. Psychon Bull Rev 2023:10.3758/s13423-022-02236-4. [PMID: 36609963 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02236-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Social learning via the observation of or interaction with other individuals can allow animals to obtain information about the local environment. Once social information is obtained, animals may or may not act on and use this information. Animals may learn from others selectively based on particular characteristics (e.g., familiarity, age, dominance) of the information provider, which is thought to maximize the benefits of social learning. Biases to copy certain individuals over others plays an important role in how information is transmitted and used among individuals, and can influence the emergence of group-level behaviors (i.e., traditions). Two underlying factors can affect from whom animals learn: the population social dynamics - with whom you associate (e.g., familiar), and status of the demonstrator (e.g., dominant). We systematically surveyed the literature and conducted a meta-analysis to test whether demonstrator characteristics consistently influence social learning, and if social dynamics strategies differ from status strategies in their influence on social learning. We extracted effect sizes from papers that used an observer-demonstrator paradigm to test if the characteristics of the individual providing social information (i.e., the demonstrator) influence social information use by observers. We obtained 139 effect sizes on 33 species from 54 experiments. First, we found an effect of experimental design on the influence of demonstrator characteristics on social learning: between-subject designs had stronger effects compared to within-subject designs. Second, we found that demonstrator characteristics do indeed influence social learning. Characteristics based on social dynamics and characteristics based on status had a significant effect on social learning, especially when copying familiar and kin demonstrators. These results highlight the role that demonstrator characteristics play on social learning, which can have implications for the formation and establishment of behavioural traditions in animals.
Collapse
|
13
|
Abreu F, Pika S. Turn-taking skills in mammals: A systematic review into development and acquisition. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.987253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
How human language evolved remains one of the most intriguing questions in science, and different approaches have been used to tackle this question. A recent hypothesis, the Interaction Engine Hypothesis, postulates that language was made possible through the special capacity for social interaction involving different social cognitive skills (e.g., joint attention, common ground) and specific characteristics such as face-to-face interaction, mutual gaze and turn-taking, the exchange of rapid communicative turns. Recently, it has been argued that this turn-taking infrastructure may be a foundational and ancient mechanism of the layered system of language because communicative turn-taking has been found in human infants and across several non-human primate species. Moreover, there is some evidence for turn-taking in different mammalian taxa, especially those capable of vocal learning. Surprisingly, however, the existing studies have mainly focused on turn-taking production of adult individuals, while little is known about its emergence and development in young individuals. Hence, the aim of the current paper was 2-fold: First, we carried out a systematic review of turn-taking development and acquisition in mammals to evaluate possible research bias and existing gaps. Second, we highlight research avenues to spur more research into this domain and investigate if distinct turn-taking elements can be found in other non-human animal species. Since mammals exhibit an extended development period, including learning and strong parental care, they represent an excellent model group in which to investigate the acquisition and development of turn-taking abilities. We performed a systematic review including a wide range of terms and found 21 studies presenting findings on turn-taking abilities in infants and juveniles. Most of these studies were from the last decade, showing an increased interest in this field over the years. Overall, we found a considerable variation in the terminologies and methodological approaches used. In addition, studies investigating turn-taking abilities across different development periods and in relation to different social partners were very rare, thereby hampering direct, systematic comparisons within and across species. Nonetheless, the results of some studies suggested that specific turn-taking elements are innate, while others are acquired during development (e.g., flexibility). Finally, we pinpoint fruitful research avenues and hypotheses to move the field of turn-taking development forward and improve our understanding of the impact of turn-taking on language evolution.
Collapse
|
14
|
Perry SE, Carter A, Foster JG, Nöbel S, Smolla M. What Makes Inventions Become Traditions? ANNUAL REVIEW OF ANTHROPOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-012121-012127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Although anthropology was the first academic discipline to investigate cultural change, many other disciplines have made noteworthy contributions to understanding what influences the adoption of new behaviors. Drawing on a broad, interdisciplinary literature covering both humans and nonhumans, we examine ( a) which features of behavioral traits make them more transmissible, ( b) which individual characteristics of inventors promote copying of their inventions, ( c) which characteristics of individuals make them more prone to adopting new behaviors, ( d) which characteristics of dyadic relationships promote cultural transmission, ( e) which properties of groups (e.g., network structures) promote transmission of traits, and ( f) which characteristics of groups promote retention, rather than extinction, of cultural traits. One of anthropology's strengths is its readiness to adopt and improve theories and methods from other disciplines, integrating them into a more holistic approach; hence, we identify approaches that might be particularly useful to biological and cultural anthropologists, and knowledge gaps that should be filled.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan E. Perry
- Evolution and Culture Program, Department of Anthropology and Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Alecia Carter
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jacob G. Foster
- Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Sabine Nöbel
- Université Toulouse 1 Capitole and Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Laboratoire Évolution et Diversité Biologique, CNRS, UMR 5174, IRD, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Marco Smolla
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Malta A, Caselli C, Souto A, De la Fuente MF, Schiel N. Number of adult females in a group affects infant motor development of a cooperative breeding primate (Callithrix jacchus). Primates 2022; 63:683-689. [DOI: 10.1007/s10329-022-01016-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
|
16
|
Deshpande A, Van Boekholt B, Zuberbuhler K. Preliminary evidence for one-trial social learning of vervet monkey alarm calling. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:210560. [PMID: 36016915 DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6133928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
How do non-human primates learn to use their alarm calls? Social learning is a promising candidate, but its role in the acquisition of meaning and call usage has not been studied systematically, neither during ontogeny nor in adulthood. To investigate the role of social learning in alarm call comprehension and use, we exposed groups of wild vervet monkeys to two unfamiliar animal models in the presence or absence of conspecific alarm calls. To assess the learning outcome of these experiences, we then presented the models for a second time to the same monkeys, but now without additional alarm call information. In subjects previously exposed in conjunction with alarm calls, we found heightened predator inspection compared to control subjects exposed without alarm calls, indicating one-trial social learning of 'meaning'. Moreover, some juveniles (but not adults) produced the same alarm calls they heard during the initial exposure whereas the authenticity of the models had an additional effect. Our experiment provides preliminary evidence that, in non-human primates, call meaning can be acquired by one-trail social learning but that subject age and core knowledge about predators additionally moderate the acquisition of novel call-referent associations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adwait Deshpande
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
| | - Bas Van Boekholt
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Comparative BioCognition, Department of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Klaus Zuberbuhler
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Deshpande A, Van Boekholt B, Zuberbuhler K. Preliminary evidence for one-trial social learning of vervet monkey alarm calling. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:210560. [PMID: 36016915 PMCID: PMC9399712 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
How do non-human primates learn to use their alarm calls? Social learning is a promising candidate, but its role in the acquisition of meaning and call usage has not been studied systematically, neither during ontogeny nor in adulthood. To investigate the role of social learning in alarm call comprehension and use, we exposed groups of wild vervet monkeys to two unfamiliar animal models in the presence or absence of conspecific alarm calls. To assess the learning outcome of these experiences, we then presented the models for a second time to the same monkeys, but now without additional alarm call information. In subjects previously exposed in conjunction with alarm calls, we found heightened predator inspection compared to control subjects exposed without alarm calls, indicating one-trial social learning of 'meaning'. Moreover, some juveniles (but not adults) produced the same alarm calls they heard during the initial exposure whereas the authenticity of the models had an additional effect. Our experiment provides preliminary evidence that, in non-human primates, call meaning can be acquired by one-trail social learning but that subject age and core knowledge about predators additionally moderate the acquisition of novel call-referent associations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Adwait Deshpande
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
| | - Bas Van Boekholt
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Comparative BioCognition, Department of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Klaus Zuberbuhler
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Carvajal L, Schuppli C. Learning and skill development in wild primates: toward a better understanding of cognitive evolution. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
|
19
|
Strepsirrhine movement and navigation: sense and sociality. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
|
20
|
Watson CM, Sherwood CC, Phillips KA. Myelin characteristics of the corpus callosum in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus [Cebus] apella) across the lifespan. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8786. [PMID: 35610294 PMCID: PMC9130294 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12893-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2022] [Accepted: 05/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The midsagittal area of the corpus callosum (CC) is frequently studied in relation to brain development, connectivity, and function. Here we quantify myelin characteristics from electron microscopy to understand more fully differential patterns of white matter development occurring within the CC. We subdivided midsagittal regions of the CC into: I-rostrum and genu, II-rostral body, III-anterior midbody, IV-posterior midbody, and V-isthmus and splenium. The sample represented capuchin monkeys ranging in age from 2 weeks to 35 years (Sapajus [Cebus] apella, n = 8). Measurements of myelin thickness, myelin fraction, and g-ratio were obtained in a systematic random fashion. We hypothesized there would be a period of rapid myelin growth within the CC in early development. Using a locally weighted regression analysis (LOESS), we found regional differences in myelin characteristics, with posterior regions showing more rapid increases in myelin thickness and sharper decreases in g-ratio in early development. The most anterior region showed the most sustained growth in myelin thickness. For all regions over the lifespan, myelin fraction increased, plateaued, and decreased. These results suggest differential patterns of nonlinear myelin growth occur early in development and well into adulthood in the CC of capuchin monkeys.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chase M Watson
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Chet C Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Kimberley A Phillips
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, USA.
- Southwest National Primate Research Center, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Paletta P, Bass N, Aspesi D, Choleris E. Sex Differences in Social Cognition. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2022; 62:207-234. [PMID: 35604571 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2022_325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
In this review we explore the sex differences underlying various types of social cognition. Particular focus will be placed on the behaviors of social recognition, social learning, and aggression. Known similarities and differences between sexes in the expressions of these behaviors and the known brain regions where these behaviors are mediated are discussed. The role that the sex hormones (estrogens and androgens) have as well as possible interactions with other neurochemicals, such as oxytocin, vasopressin, and serotonin is reviewed as well. Finally, implications about these findings on the mediation of social cognition are mediated and the sex differences related to humans are considered.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pietro Paletta
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Noah Bass
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Dario Aspesi
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Elena Choleris
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Whiten A, Biro D, Bredeche N, Garland EC, Kirby S. The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200306. [PMID: 34894738 PMCID: PMC8666904 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, Scottish Oceans Institute, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Dora Biro
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Nicolas Bredeche
- Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, ISIR, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Ellen C Garland
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Simon Kirby
- Centre for Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Whiten A, Harrison RA, McGuigan N, Vale GL, Watson SK. Collective knowledge and the dynamics of culture in chimpanzees. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200321. [PMID: 34894742 PMCID: PMC8666901 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning in non-human primates has been studied experimentally for over 120 years, yet until the present century this was limited to what one individual learns from a single other. Evidence of group-wide traditions in the wild then highlighted the collective context for social learning, and broader 'diffusion experiments' have since demonstrated transmission at the community level. In the present article, we describe and set in comparative perspective three strands of our recent research that further explore the collective dimensions of culture and cumulative culture in chimpanzees. First, exposing small communities of chimpanzees to contexts incorporating increasingly challenging, but more rewarding tool use opportunities revealed solutions arising through the combination of different individuals' discoveries, spreading to become shared innovations. The second series of experiments yielded evidence of conformist changes from habitual techniques to alternatives displayed by a unanimous majority of others but implicating a form of quorum decision-making. Third, we found that between-group differences in social tolerance were associated with differential success in developing more complex tool use to exploit an increasingly inaccessible resource. We discuss the implications of this array of findings in the wider context of related studies of humans, other primates and non-primate species. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
| | - Rachel A. Harrison
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Nicola McGuigan
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- School of Education and Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, UK
| | - Gillian L. Vale
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- Lester E Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Stuart K. Watson
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and Scottish Primate Research Group, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, South Street, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
O'Madagain C, Tomasello M. Shared intentionality, reason-giving and the evolution of human culture. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200320. [PMID: 34894741 PMCID: PMC8666906 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The biological approach to culture focuses almost exclusively on processes of social learning, to the neglect of processes of cultural coordination including joint action and shared intentionality. In this paper, we argue that the distinctive features of human culture derive from humans' unique skills and motivations for coordinating with one another around different types of action and information. As different levels of these skills of 'shared intentionality' emerged over the last several hundred thousand years, human culture became characterized first by such things as collaborative activities and pedagogy based on cooperative communication, and then by such things as collaborative innovations and normatively structured pedagogy. As a kind of capstone of this trajectory, humans began to coordinate not just on joint actions and shared beliefs, but on the reasons for what we believe or how we act. Coordinating on reasons powered the kinds of extremely rapid innovation and stable cumulative cultural evolution especially characteristic of the human species in the last several tens of thousands of years. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cathal O'Madagain
- School of Collective Intelligence, Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Ben Guerir, Morocco
- Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Mikeliban M, Kunz B, Rahmaeti T, Uomini N, Schuppli C. Orangutan mothers adjust their behaviour during food solicitations in a way that likely facilitates feeding skill acquisition in their offspring. Sci Rep 2021; 11:23679. [PMID: 34880303 PMCID: PMC8655057 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02901-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Immature orangutans acquire their feeding skills over several years, via social and independent learning. So far, it has remained uninvestigated to what extent orangutan mothers are actively involved in this learning process. From a fitness point of view, it may be adaptive for mothers to facilitate their offspring’s skill acquisition to make them reach nutritional independence faster. Food solicitations are potential means to social learning which, because of their interactive nature, allow to investigate the degree of active involvement of the mother. To investigate the role of food solicitation and the role of the mother in immatures’ foraging skill acquisition, we analysed 1390 food solicitation events between 21 immature Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) and their mothers, collected over 13 years at the Suaq Balimbing orangutan population. We found that solicitation rates decreased with increasing age of the immatures and increased with increasing processing complexity of the food item. Mothers were more likely to share complex items and showed the highest likelihoods of sharing around the age at which immatures are learning most of their feeding skills. Our results indicate that immature Sumatran orangutans use food solicitation to acquire feeding skills. Furthermore, mothers flexibly adjust their behaviour in a way that likely facilitates their offspring’s skill acquisition. We conclude that orangutan mothers have a more active role in the skill acquisition of their offspring than previously thought.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mulati Mikeliban
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78467, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Belinda Kunz
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, CH-8006, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Tri Rahmaeti
- Department of Biology, Graduate School, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, 12520, Indonesia
| | - Natalie Uomini
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Caroline Schuppli
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78467, Konstanz, Germany. .,Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, CH-8006, Zurich, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Malalaharivony HS, Kappeler PM, Fichtel C. Infant Development and Maternal Care in Wild Verreaux’s Sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi). INT J PRIMATOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-021-00255-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
|
27
|
Insights from comparative research on social and cultural learning. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2021; 254:247-270. [PMID: 32859290 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/13/2023]
Abstract
Social cognitive skills play a crucial role in human life, and have allowed us to reach a unique level of behavioral and cultural complexity. However, many nonhuman species also show a complex understanding of the social world. Building on theories of human social development, we will follow the emergence of cultural learning skills across taxa, discussing similarities and differences between humans and other species. We will first review literature on social learning, including enhancement, emulation and imitation. Then, we will discuss existing studies on the evolution of teaching, and finally, we will critically review literature on the social transmission of skills and knowledge across generations. By adopting a comparative perspective, we will be able to identify the unique characteristics of social transmission in humans, and the social skills that are instead shared with other species, to gain a deeper understanding of the role of cultural learning in social cognitive development.
Collapse
|
28
|
Nielsen M, Fong FTK, Whiten A. Social learning from media: The need for a culturally diachronic developmental psychology. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2021; 61:317-334. [PMID: 34266569 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2021.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Since the proliferation of television sets into households began over half a century ago there has been widespread interest in the impact that viewing has on young children's development. Such interest has grown with the increasing availability of smart phones and tablets. In this review we examine the literature documenting human social learning and how this learning is impacted when the instructing agent appears on a screen instead of face-to-face. We then explore the shifting nature of screen-based media, with a focus on the increasingly socio-normative manner information is portrayed. We discuss how the changing nature of screen technology might be altering how children interpret what they see, and raise the possibility that this may render prevailing evidence as historical documentation, rather than setting out established developmental milestones that transcend the period in which they were documented. We contend that recognizing the significance of historically changing contexts in developmental psychology is timely when the COVID-19 climate is pushing data collection on-line for many labs, often using tasks that were developed primarily for face-to-face contexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mark Nielsen
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia; Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
| | - Frankie T K Fong
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia; Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Andrew Whiten
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Vale GL, McGuigan N, Burdett E, Lambeth SP, Lucas A, Rawlings B, Schapiro SJ, Watson SK, Whiten A. Why do chimpanzees have diverse behavioral repertoires yet lack more complex cultures? Invention and social information use in a cumulative task. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
|
30
|
Ehmann B, van Schaik CP, Ashbury AM, Mörchen J, Musdarlia H, Utami Atmoko S, van Noordwijk MA, Schuppli C. Immature wild orangutans acquire relevant ecological knowledge through sex-specific attentional biases during social learning. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001173. [PMID: 34010339 PMCID: PMC8133475 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Accepted: 03/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
As a part of growing up, immature orangutans must acquire vast repertoires of skills and knowledge, a process that takes several years of observational social learning and subsequent practice. Adult female and male orangutans show behavioral differences including sex-specific foraging patterns and male-biased dispersal. We investigated how these differing life trajectories affect social interest and emerging ecological knowledge in immatures. We analyzed 15 years of detailed observational data on social learning, associations, and diet repertoires of 50 immatures (16 females and 34 males), from 2 orangutan populations. Specific to the feeding context, we found sex differences in the development of social interest: Throughout the dependency period, immature females direct most of their social attention at their mothers, whereas immature males show an increasing attentional preference for individuals other than their mothers. When attending to non-mother individuals, males show a significant bias toward immigrant individuals and a trend for a bias toward adult males. In contrast, females preferentially attend to neighboring residents. Accordingly, by the end of the dependency period, immature females show a larger dietary overlap with their mothers than do immature males. These results suggest that immature orangutans show attentional biases through which they learn from individuals with the most relevant ecological knowledge. Diversifying their skills and knowledge likely helps males when they move to a new area. In sum, our findings underline the importance of fine-grained social inputs for the acquisition of ecological knowledge and skills in orangutans and likely in other apes as well.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Beatrice Ehmann
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | | | - Alison M. Ashbury
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Julia Mörchen
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Life Science, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Research Group Primate Behavioural Ecology, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Helvi Musdarlia
- Department of Biology, Graduate School, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | - Suci Utami Atmoko
- Faculty of Biology and Primate Research Center, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | | | - Caroline Schuppli
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Abstract
Culture—the totality of traditions acquired in a community by social learning from other individuals—has increasingly been found to be pervasive not only in humans’ but in many other animals’ lives. Compared with learning on one’s own initiative, learning from others can be very much safer and more efficient, as the wisdom already accumulated by other individuals is assimilated. This article offers an overview of often surprising recent discoveries charting the reach of culture across an ever-expanding diversity of species, as well as an extensive variety of behavioral domains, and throughout an animal’s life. The psychological reach of culture is reflected in the knowledge and skills an animal thus acquires, via an array of different social learning processes. Social learning is often further guided by a suite of adaptive psychological biases, such as conformity and learning from optimal models. In humans, cumulative cultural change over generations has generated the complex cultural phenomena observed today. Animal cultures have been thought to lack this cumulative power, but recent findings suggest that elementary versions of cumulative culture may be important in animals’ lives.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Abstract
Culture can be defined as all that is learned from others and is repeatedly transmitted in this way, forming traditions that may be inherited by successive generations. This cultural form of inheritance was once thought specific to humans, but research over the past 70 years has instead revealed it to be widespread in nature, permeating the lives of a diversity of animals, including all major classes of vertebrates. Recent studies suggest that culture's reach may extend also to invertebrates-notably, insects. In the present century, the reach of animal culture has been found to extend across many different behavioral domains and to rest on a suite of social learning processes facilitated by a variety of selective biases that enhance the efficiency and adaptiveness of learning. Far-reaching implications, for disciplines from evolutionary biology to anthropology and conservation policies, are increasingly being explored.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Sabbi KH, Emery Thompson M, Machanda ZP, Otali E, Wrangham RW, Muller MN. Sex differences in early experience and the development of aggression in wild chimpanzees. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2017144118. [PMID: 33727418 PMCID: PMC8000022 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2017144118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Sex differences in physical aggression occur across human cultures and are thought to be influenced by active sex role reinforcement. However, sex differences in aggression also exist in our close evolutionary relatives, chimpanzees, who do not engage in active teaching, but do exhibit long juvenile periods and complex social systems that allow differential experience to shape behavior. Here we ask whether early life exposure to aggression is sexually dimorphic in wild chimpanzees and, if so, whether other aspects of early sociality contribute to this difference. Using 13 y of all-occurrence aggression data collected from the Kanyawara community of chimpanzees (2005 to 2017), we determined that young male chimpanzees were victims of aggression more often than females by between 4 and 5 (i.e., early in juvenility). Combining long-term aggression data with data from a targeted study of social development (2015 to 2017), we found that two potential risk factors for aggression-time spent near adult males and time spent away from mothers-did not differ between young males and females. Instead, the major risk factor for receiving aggression was the amount of aggression that young chimpanzees displayed, which was higher for males than females throughout the juvenile period. In multivariate models, sex did not mediate this relationship, suggesting that other chimpanzees did not target young males specifically, but instead responded to individual behavior that differed by sex. Thus, social experience differed by sex even in the absence of explicit gender socialization, but experiential differences were shaped by early-emerging sex differences in behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kris H Sabbi
- Department of Anthropology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155;
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
| | - Melissa Emery Thompson
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
- Kibale Chimpanzee Project, Fort Portal, Uganda
| | - Zarin P Machanda
- Department of Anthropology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155
- Kibale Chimpanzee Project, Fort Portal, Uganda
| | - Emily Otali
- Kibale Chimpanzee Project, Fort Portal, Uganda
| | - Richard W Wrangham
- Kibale Chimpanzee Project, Fort Portal, Uganda
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 87131
| | - Martin N Muller
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
- Kibale Chimpanzee Project, Fort Portal, Uganda
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Falótico T, Bueno CQ, Ottoni EB. Ontogeny and sex differences in object manipulation and probe tool use by wild tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus). Am J Primatol 2021; 83:e23251. [PMID: 33666265 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) are the only Neotropical Primates that regularly use tools in the wild, but only one population of bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) is known to habitually use sticks as probes. In this population, males are typically the only sex to use stick tools, something unexpected, since there are no obvious physical constraints, and females do use stone tools in the wild and sticks in experimental conditions. We investigated the development of probe tool use in eight infants to clarify whether social influences on learning varied between the sexes, as tool use learning by capuchin monkeys is a socially biased process. We found that in the first 10 months of age, females manipulate sticks as much as males, but after 10-12 months of age, males begin to manipulate them at higher frequencies. We examined if social connections-as opportunities for social learning-could explain this difference and verified that, on close distance social networks, infant males and females have similar connections with older males. However, males observe probe tool use events more often than females when close to such events. The higher frequency of manipulation of sticks, as well as the higher rates of probe tool use observation, appear to be the key to understand why only males are probe tool users in this population. Since there are only male potential models of probe use, a sex motivational bias could explain the sex difference in observation; a bias in observation could explain the differences in manipulation-and manipulation rates would certainly influence the chances of individual, trial-and-error learning (a case of "local/stimulus enhancement").
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tiago Falótico
- Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.,School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.,Neotropical Primates Research Group, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Carolina Q Bueno
- Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Eduardo B Ottoni
- Institute of Psychology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
van Boekholt B, van de Waal E, Sterck EH. Organized to learn: the influence of social structure on social learning opportunities in a group. iScience 2021; 24:102117. [PMID: 33659880 PMCID: PMC7890404 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning, which is a mechanism that allows an individual to acquire skills from other individuals, occurs in a social context. Therefore, factors that influence social context, like social structure, will impact social learning opportunities. This review explores how features of social structure affect social learning opportunities in primates, either through their relationship with social tolerance or through the number of social learning models. Features that are investigated in this review and that we hypothesize affect social learning opportunities are parental investment, dominance hierarchy, nepotism, social bonds, dispersal, group size, fission-fusion dynamics, and sex ratio. For most of these features we find evidence, but support varies. Of all primate species, only humans show all the requirements of an optimal social structure to promote social learning. Future research into social learning and culture should not overlook the social context in which it takes place.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bas van Boekholt
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584CH The Netherlands
- Department of Comparative Biocognition, Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, 49074, Germany
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland
| | - Elisabeth H.M. Sterck
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584CH The Netherlands
- Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Rijswijk, 2288GJ, the Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Neophobia and social facilitation in narrow-striped mongooses. Anim Cogn 2020; 24:165-175. [PMID: 32955622 PMCID: PMC7829228 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-020-01429-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2019] [Revised: 09/06/2020] [Accepted: 09/11/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Social learning is widespread in the animal kingdom, but individuals can differ in how they acquire and use social information. Personality traits, such as neophobia, may, for example, promote individual learning strategies. Here, we contribute comparative data on social learning strategies in carnivorans by examining whether narrow-striped mongooses (Mungotictis decemlineata), a group-living Malagasy euplerid, learn socially and whether neophobia influences social learning. To this end, we tested seven wild female groups with a two-option artificial feeding box, using a demonstrator–observer paradigm, and conducted novel object tests to assess neophobia. In five groups, one individual was trained as a demonstrator displaying one of the techniques, whereas the other two groups served as control groups. Neophobia did not co-vary with an individual’s propensity to seek social information. However, less neophobic individuals, and individuals that tended to seek social information, learned the task faster. Moreover, individuals in demonstrator groups learned the task faster than those in groups without a demonstrator and used the demonstrated technique more often. Hence, narrow-striped mongooses rely on social facilitation and local or stimulus enhancement to solve new problems. Finally, our results suggest that several individual characteristics should be taken into consideration to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of social learning strategies.
Collapse
|
37
|
Environmental and life history factors, but not age, influence social learning about food: a meta-analysis. Anim Behav 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
|
38
|
Samuni L, Wegdell F, Surbeck M. Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait. eLife 2020; 9:59191. [PMID: 32869740 PMCID: PMC7462605 DOI: 10.7554/elife.59191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The importance of cultural processes to behavioural diversity in our closest living relatives is central to revealing the evolutionary origins of human culture. However, the bonobo is often overlooked as a candidate model. Further, a prominent critique to many examples of proposed animal cultures is premature exclusion of environmental confounds known to shape behavioural phenotypes. We addressed these gaps by investigating variation in prey preference between neighbouring bonobo groups that associate and overlap space use. We find group preference for duiker or anomalure hunting otherwise unexplained by variation in spatial usage, seasonality, or hunting party size, composition, and cohesion. Our findings demonstrate that group-specific behaviours emerge independently of the local ecology, indicating that hunting techniques in bonobos may be culturally transmitted. The tolerant intergroup relations of bonobos offer an ideal context to explore drivers of behavioural phenotypes, the essential investigations for phylogenetic constructs of the evolutionary origins of culture.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Liran Samuni
- Harvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Cambridge, United States.,Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Martin Surbeck
- Harvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Cambridge, United States.,Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Bonobo Conservation Initiative, Washington, United States
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Bandini E, Harrison RA. Innovation in chimpanzees. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 95:1167-1197. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Revised: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Bandini
- Department for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology The University of Tübingen Tübingen Germany
| | - Rachel A. Harrison
- Department of Ecology and Evolution University of Lausanne Lausanne Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Preschool children overimitate robots, but do so less than they overimitate humans. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 191:104702. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Revised: 08/15/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
|
41
|
Yang Y, Li Q, Garber PA, Grueter CC, Ren G, Wang X, Huang Z, Xiang Z, Xiao W, Behie A. Cafeteria-style feeding trials provide new insights into the diet and nutritional strategies of the black snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri): Implications for conservation. Am J Primatol 2020; 82:e23108. [PMID: 32100313 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2019] [Revised: 01/18/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic changes and fragmentation of natural habitats often exert a negative effect on resource availability and distribution, and the nutritional ecology and feeding behavior of nonhuman primates. The goals of this study are to examine food choice and to identify the nutritional profile of foods consumed by the Critically Endangered black snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri). To accomplish our study goals, we presented cafeteria-style feeding trials of fresh food items collected in the home range of wild black snub-nosed monkeys to the only two captive R. strykeri, and compared the nutritional profiles of the leafy foods (buds, young, and mature leaves, 100 i23tems from 70 plant species) selected with those avoided (54 items from 48 plant species). Overall, the results indicate that captive R. strykeri selected foods that were higher in moisture (Mo; 77.7%), crude protein (CP; 21.2%), total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC; 34.9%), and phosphorus (P; 0.37%) while tending to avoid foods with a neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content of greater than 46.8%. Leaves collected in autumn and selected by the monkeys were characterized by a slightly higher amount of metabolizable energy (ME) than those rejected (1,350 kJ/100 g vs. 1,268 kJ/100 g). In contrast, the protein content of foods collected and consumed during the spring was greater (22.9%) than in autumn (16.4%). Random Forests modeling, an ensemble learning method, indicated that the proportion of Mo, NDF, ME, CP, P, and TNC were among the most important factors in predicting which items were consumed by the captive R. strykeri during spring and autumn. On the basis of the nutritional profile of foods consumed across the two seasons, we identified 18 nutrient-rich native plant species that we recommend for use in ex- and in-situ conservation management and reforestation programs to provide long-term access to a nutritionally adequate diet.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yin Yang
- Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, China.,School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT, Australia.,Collaborative Innovation Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation in the Three Parallel Rivers Region of China, Dali, Yunnan, China
| | - Qihua Li
- Yunnan Province Key Lab of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Paul A Garber
- Department of Anthropology, Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
| | - Cyril C Grueter
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.,Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
| | - Guopeng Ren
- Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, China.,Collaborative Innovation Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation in the Three Parallel Rivers Region of China, Dali, Yunnan, China
| | - Xinwen Wang
- Lushui Bureau of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, Liuku, Yunnan, China
| | - Zhipang Huang
- Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, China.,Collaborative Innovation Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation in the Three Parallel Rivers Region of China, Dali, Yunnan, China
| | - Zuofu Xiang
- Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Biology, Central South University of Forestry & Technology, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - Wen Xiao
- Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan, China.,Collaborative Innovation Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation in the Three Parallel Rivers Region of China, Dali, Yunnan, China
| | - Alison Behie
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
A unified account of culture should accommodate animal cultures. Behav Brain Sci 2020; 43:e118. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x1900270x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Discoveries about social learning and culture in non-human animals have burgeoned this century, yet despite aspiring to offer a unified account of culture, the target article neglects these discoveries almost totally. I offer an overview of principal findings in this field including phylogenetic reach, intraspecies pervasiveness, stability, fidelity, and attentional funnelling in social learning. Can the authors’ approach accommodate these?
Collapse
|
43
|
Abstract
Understanding social influences on how apes acquire tool behaviors can help us model the evolution of culture and technology in humans. Humans scaffold novice tool skills with diverse strategies, including the transfer of tools between individuals. Chimpanzees transfer tools, and this behavior meets criteria for teaching. However, it is unclear how task complexity relates to this form of helping. Here, we find differences between 2 wild chimpanzee populations in rate, probability, and types of tool transfer during termite gathering. Chimpanzees showed greater helping in the population where termite gathering is a more complex tool task. In wild chimpanzees, as in humans, regular and active provisioning of learning opportunities may be essential to the cultural transmission of complex skills. Cumulative culture is a transformative force in human evolution, but the social underpinnings of this capacity are debated. Identifying social influences on how chimpanzees acquire tool tasks of differing complexity may help illuminate the evolutionary origins of technology in our own lineage. Humans routinely transfer tools to novices to scaffold their skill development. While tool transfers occur in wild chimpanzees and fulfill criteria for teaching, it is unknown whether this form of helping varies between populations and across tasks. Applying standardized methods, we compared tool transfers during termite gathering by chimpanzees in the Goualougo Triangle, Republic of Congo, and in Gombe, Tanzania. At Goualougo, chimpanzees use multiple, different tool types sequentially, choose specific raw materials, and perform modifications that improve tool efficiency, which could make it challenging for novices to manufacture suitable tools. Termite gathering at Gombe involves a single tool type, fishing probes, which can be manufactured from various materials. Multiple measures indicated population differences in tool-transfer behavior. The rate of transfers and probability of transfer upon request were significantly higher at Goualougo, while resistance to transfers was significantly higher at Gombe. Active transfers of tools in which possessors moved to facilitate possession change upon request occurred only at Goualougo, where they were the most common transfer type. At Gombe, tool requests were typically refused. We suggest that these population differences in tool-transfer behavior may relate to task complexity and that active helping plays an enhanced role in the cultural transmission of complex technology in wild apes.
Collapse
|
44
|
Canteloup C. Qui copier ? Les stratégies d’apprentissage social chez les animaux. REVUE DE PRIMATOLOGIE 2019. [DOI: 10.4000/primatologie.4326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
|
45
|
Abstract
In recent decades, a burgeoning literature has documented the cultural transmission of behavior through social learning in numerous vertebrate and invertebrate species. One meaning of “cultural evolution in animals” refers to these discoveries, and I present an overview of key findings. I then address the other meaning of the term focused on cultural changes within a lineage. Such changes in humans, described as “cumulative cultural evolution,” have been spectacular, but relatively little attention has yet been paid to the topic in nonhuman animals, other than asserting that the process is unique to humans. A variety of evidence including both controlled experiments and field observations has begun to challenge this view, and in some behavioral domains, notably birdsong, cultural evolution has been studied for many years. In this review, I dissect concepts of cultural evolution and cumulative culture and appraise the accumulating evidence bearing on their nature and significance for evolutionary biology at large.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cultural Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
Abstract
Heyes sets out an intriguing theory but it raises more questions than compelling answers concerning culturally shaped cognition. I set out what I see as the most pressing questions, ranging over the book's early chapters concerning the structure of the theory, to two of Heyes' four exemplar cognitive domains, selective social learning and imitation.
Collapse
|
47
|
Primates are living links to our past: The contribution of comparative studies with wild vervet monkeys to the field of social cognition. Cortex 2019; 118:65-81. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2018] [Revised: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 03/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
|
48
|
|
49
|
|
50
|
Dezecache G, Crockford C, Zuberbühler K. The development of communication in alarm contexts in wild chimpanzees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019; 73:104. [PMID: 31346303 PMCID: PMC6612320 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2716-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2019] [Revised: 06/14/2019] [Accepted: 06/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Animals have evolved a range of communicative behaviours in the presence of danger. Although the mechanisms and functions of some of these behaviours have been relatively well researched, comparatively little is known about their ontogeny, including how animals learn to inform social partners about impending danger. In adult chimpanzees, behaviours in response to dangers involve several channels, particularly alarm calls and simultaneous gaze alternations with nearby recipients. Gaze alternations may allow inexperienced individuals to learn from more experienced ones by assessing their reactions to unfamiliar objects or events, but they may also provide the basis for more advanced social referencing. Here, we were interested in the development of these two common behaviours, alarm calling and gaze alternations, in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) confronted with a threat. Using a cross-sectional design, we investigated those in 8 infant and 8 juveniles by experimentally exposing them to an unfamiliar but potentially dangerous object, a large, remotely controlled, moving spider model. For alarm calling, we found a positive relation with age, starting at around 28 months, although alarm calls were not consistently emitted until after 80 months. For gaze alternations, we found no age effect, with some of the youngest infants already showing the behaviour. Although its function remains unclear in infant and juvenile chimpanzees, gaze alternations emerge early in chimpanzee development. Alarm calling may require more advanced developmental stages, such as greater perceptual abilities, categorical capacities or more sophisticated social cognition, i.e. an understanding that danger is a collective experience that requires communication. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Alarm calling and other anti-predatory behaviours have been the topic of much research but their ontogenies are still poorly described and understood. Recent studies on the behaviour of wild chimpanzees in threatening contexts have suggested sophisticated social cognitive abilities in adults. How do these behaviours develop in ontogeny? We addressed this question using a field experiment with 8 infants and 8 juveniles exposed to a novel and potentially threatening object in their natural habitat. We found that gaze alternations are present in some of the youngest individuals, potentially revealing early social awareness in chimpanzees. Age did not have an effect on the presence of gaze alternation. We also found that alarm calling was more common in older individuals, suggesting that call production and context of usage must be learnt. We discuss our results in light of developmental theories of social cognition and the role of social learning in the primate lineage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Dezecache
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL Research University, Paris, France
- Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Budongo Conservation Field Station, Masindi, Uganda
- Institute of Biology, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK
| |
Collapse
|