1
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Bigiani S, Pilenga C. Benefit of Cognitive Environmental Enrichments on Social Tolerance and Play Behavior in Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus). J APPL ANIM WELF SCI 2024; 27:355-372. [PMID: 37337461 DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2023.2227563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
Social tolerance is an essential feature of social life that can determine the good functioning of a group of animals. Play behaviors, like social play and playing with objects, are frequently associated with positive emotional and welfare states. As a result, zoos use various strategies to promote both social tolerance and play with objects. Providing animals with cognitive environmental enrichment can be an effective tool to achieve these goals. Here we tested whether cognitive environmental enrichment can promote social tolerance and play with objects in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). To this end, we provided a group of five dolphins with two types of cognitive enrichment: one for individual use and one for cooperative use, both based on the rope-pulling task paradigm. Then we evaluated whether social tolerance and play with objects had increased after we provided dolphins with the two enrichments. Our results go in this direction, showing that after we provided dolphins with the enrichments, their intolerance behaviors decreased, both during feeding sessions and play sessions, while their play with objects increased. As a result, the two enrichments we used could be useful for improving dolphins' housing conditions.
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2
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Rodríguez Y, Silva MA, Pham CK, Duncan EM. Cetaceans playing with single-use plastics (SUPs): A widespread interaction with likely severe impacts. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 194:115428. [PMID: 37639865 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Play is a common behaviour in wild cetaceans that includes the manipulation of natural, as well as artificial objects such as marine debris. Yet, very little is known about these interactions despite the potential impacts on cetacean health. We combined a detailed review of the scientific literature and social media with 12 years of observations to examine cetacean interactions with plastic litter. A total of 11 odontocete species (Tursiops truncatus, Stenella longirostris, Delphinus delphis, Grampus griseus, Steno bredanensis, Stenella frontalis, Sotalia guianensis, Pseudorca crassidens, Orcinus orca, Globicephala melas and Physeter macrocephalus) were documented in 59 events carrying or throwing plastic litter with their head and/or flippers suggesting a form of play. Interactions occurred in the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Red Sea, with single-use plastics composing the main typology registered. While these interactions appeared harmless to the observers, they can pose a significant risk through subsequent entanglement or ingestion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasmina Rodríguez
- Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar - OKEANOS, Universidade dos Açores, 9900-138 Horta, Portugal.
| | - Mónica A Silva
- Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar - OKEANOS, Universidade dos Açores, 9900-138 Horta, Portugal
| | - Christopher K Pham
- Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar - OKEANOS, Universidade dos Açores, 9900-138 Horta, Portugal
| | - Emily M Duncan
- Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar - OKEANOS, Universidade dos Açores, 9900-138 Horta, Portugal
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3
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The Popcorn Illusion. Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2023; 57:314-327. [PMID: 35852672 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-022-09682-8] [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: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
A popcorn popping is almost magical. And yet, the science of popcorn is safe and clear about the steps until the pop: the components, processes, and results of making popcorn. Nature has its own way to produce surprise in the form of "pops" (i.e., emergence, qualitative shifts). Emergent features spread throughout the life of taxa and individuals. A pop can be sudden and chaotic. And so is creativity. There is no incompatibility between creativity and naturalistic endeavors in science. Creativity is no god given gift blown inside humans. When creativity is defined by originality and spontaneity, it describes a feature with no past or present. I briefly summarize how one can see non-random innovation, no free occurring spontaneity, and non-heuristic effectiveness as features of behaviors that are not necessarily considered creative. Those three features reveal how traditional views of creativity undermine its real determiners and how it can be objectively defined and observed.
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4
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Cognitive Foraging Enrichment (but Not Non-Cognitive Enrichment) Improved Several Longer-Term Welfare Indicators in Bottlenose Dolphins. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:ani13020238. [PMID: 36670781 PMCID: PMC9855125 DOI: 10.3390/ani13020238] [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: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Bottlenose dolphins are the most common cetacean kept globally in zoos and aquaria (hereafter zoos), and are gregarious animals with a mostly opportunistic, generalist feeding strategy in the wild. In zoos, they have limited to no opportunities to express natural foraging behaviours as they receive their daily food ration of dead fish in a series of training sessions. Enrichment provision has increased in recent years, but items are still predominantly simple and floating in nature, and do not always target the animals' problem-solving or food-acquisition behaviours. These discrepancies run concurrently with the intense debate about dolphin welfare in zoos and how to improve it. The current study used a within-subject design on 11 bottlenose dolphins at Kolmårdens Djurpark and measured how several welfare indicators differed between two treatments of "cognitive" and "non-cognitive" food-based enrichment. The treatments were provided on an alternating basis for eight consecutive weeks: during cognitive enrichment weeks, the animals received items which stimulated their problem-solving and foraging behaviours, and during non-cognitive enrichment weeks, they received simple items paired with fish (to eliminate bias due to food value). Data were taken related to several multidisciplinary welfare parameters during enrichment provision and training sessions, and to activity budget behaviours throughout the week. During the cognitive as opposed to non-cognitive enrichment weeks, the dolphins engaged more with the enrichment, were more motivated to participate in training sessions and performed less anticipatory and stereotypic behaviours, suggesting that cognitive enrichment improved several indicators of bottlenose dolphin welfare. Valuable lines of further investigation would be to understand how individual differences and different types of cognitive enrichment impact potential welfare benefits. Our results suggest that enrichment items promoting cognitive foraging behaviours may improve dolphin welfare, and therefore zoos might prioritise giving cognitive enrichment to this species as well as considering the same for other species with similar cognitive skills and foraging ecologies.
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5
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Marfurt SM, Allen SJ, Bizzozzero MR, Willems EP, King SL, Connor RC, Kopps AM, Wild S, Gerber L, Wittwer S, Krützen M. Association patterns and community structure among female bottlenose dolphins: environmental, genetic and cultural factors. Mamm Biol 2022; 102:1373-1387. [PMID: 36998433 PMCID: PMC10040398 DOI: 10.1007/s42991-022-00259-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
AbstractSocial structuring from assortative associations may affect individual fitness, as well as population-level processes. Gaining a broader understanding of social structure can improve our knowledge of social evolution and inform wildlife conservation. We investigated association patterns and community structure of female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Shark Bay, Western Australia, assessing the role of kinship, shared culturally transmitted foraging techniques, and habitat similarity based on water depth. Our results indicated that associations are influenced by a combination of uni- and biparental relatedness, cultural behaviour and habitat similarity, as these were positively correlated with a measure of dyadic association. These findings were matched in a community level analysis. Members of the same communities overwhelmingly shared the same habitat and foraging techniques, demonstrating a strong homophilic tendency. Both uni- and biparental relatedness between dyads were higher within than between communities. Our results illustrate that intraspecific variation in sociality in bottlenose dolphins is influenced by a complex combination of genetic, cultural, and environmental aspects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Svenja M. Marfurt
- Evolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Simon J. Allen
- Evolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009 Australia
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ UK
| | - Manuela R. Bizzozzero
- Evolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Erik P. Willems
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Stephanie L. King
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009 Australia
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TQ UK
| | | | - Anna M. Kopps
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia
| | - Sonja Wild
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78464 Constance, Germany
| | - Livia Gerber
- Evolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia
| | - Samuel Wittwer
- Evolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Michael Krützen
- Evolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
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6
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Patterns of association and distribution of estuarine-resident common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in North Carolina, USA. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270057. [PMID: 35969521 PMCID: PMC9377618 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The social structure of estuarine-resident bottlenose dolphins is complex and varied. Residing in habitats often utilized for resource exploitation, dolphins are at risk due to anthropogenic pressures while still federally protected. Effective conservation is predicated upon accurate abundance estimates. In North Carolina, two estuarine-resident stocks (demographically independent groups) of common bottlenose dolphin have been designated using spatiotemporal criteria. Both stocks are subjected to bycatch in fishing gear. The southern North Carolina estuarine stock was estimated at <200 individuals from surveys in 2006, which is outdated per US guidelines. Thus, we conducted a new capture-mark-recapture survey in 2018, identifying 547 distinct individuals, about three times higher than the prior abundance estimate. We compared those individuals to our long-term photo-identification catalog (1995–2018, n = 2,423 individuals), matching 228 individuals. Of those 228, 65 were also included in the 2013 abundance estimate for the northern North Carolina estuarine stock. Using sighting histories for all individuals in the long-term catalog, we conducted a social network analysis, which is independent of a priori stock assignments. The three primary clusters identified were inconsistent with current stock designations and not defined by spatiotemporal distribution. All three clusters had sighting histories in the estuary and on the coast, however, that with the highest within-cluster associations appeared to use estuarine waters more often. The within-cluster association strength was low for one cluster, possibly due to only part of that cluster inhabiting the southern North Carolina estuarine system. Between-cluster differences occurred in infestation rates by the pseudostalked barnacle, Xenobalanus globicipitis, but that did not predict clusters. We suggest the need to re-evaluate the stock structure of estuarine-resident common bottlenose dolphins in North Carolina and currently have insufficient information to assign an abundance estimate to a currently designated stock.
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Chimento M, Barrett BJ, Kandler A, Aplin LM. Cultural diffusion dynamics depend on behavioural production rules. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221001. [PMID: 35946158 PMCID: PMC9363993 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Culture is an outcome of both the acquisition of knowledge about behaviour through social transmission, and its subsequent production by individuals. Acquisition and production are often discussed or modelled interchangeably, yet to date no study has explored the consequences of their interaction for cultural diffusions. We present a generative model that integrates the two, and ask how variation in production rules might influence diffusion dynamics. Agents make behavioural choices that change as they learn from their productions. Their repertoires may also change, and the acquisition of behaviour is conditioned on its frequency. We analyse the diffusion of a novel behaviour through social networks, yielding generalizable predictions of how individual-level behavioural production rules influence population-level diffusion dynamics. We then investigate how linking acquisition and production might affect the performance of two commonly used inferential models for social learning; network-based diffusion analysis, and experience-weighted attraction models. We find that the influence that production rules have on diffusion dynamics has consequences for how inferential methods are applied to empirical data. Our model illuminates the differences between social learning and social influence, demonstrates the overlooked role of reinforcement learning in cultural diffusions, and allows for clearer discussions about social learning strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Chimento
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, Radolfzell 78315, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany
| | - Brendan J Barrett
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, Radolfzell 78315, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Anne Kandler
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Lucy M Aplin
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, Radolfzell 78315, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, Konstanz 78464, Germany.,Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, 46 Sullivan Creek Road, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia
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8
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King SL, Jensen FH. Rise of the machines: Integrating technology with playback experiments to study cetacean social cognition in the wild. Methods Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie L. King
- School of Biological Sciences University of Bristol BS8 1TQ Bristol United Kingdom
| | - Frants H. Jensen
- Biology department, Syracuse University 107 College Place 13244 Syracuse NY USA
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9
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Lee PC. Groups, grouping and networks: dynamic unanswered questions for primatologists. Primates 2022; 63:187-193. [PMID: 35412094 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-022-00988-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/26/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Phyllis C Lee
- Behaviour and Evolution Research Group and Scottish Primate Research Group, Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK.
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10
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Garland EC, Garrigue C, Noad MJ. When does cultural evolution become cumulative culture? A case study of humpback whale song. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200313. [PMID: 34894734 PMCID: PMC8666910 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Culture presents a second inheritance system by which innovations can be transmitted between generations and among individuals. Some vocal behaviours present compelling examples of cultural evolution. Where modifications accumulate over time, such a process can become cumulative cultural evolution. The existence of cumulative cultural evolution in non-human animals is controversial. When physical products of such a process do not exist, modifications may not be clearly visible over time. Here, we investigate whether the constantly evolving songs of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are indicative of cumulative cultural evolution. Using nine years of song data recorded from the New Caledonian humpback whale population, we quantified song evolution and complexity, and formally evaluated this process in light of criteria for cumulative cultural evolution. Song accumulates changes shown by an increase in complexity, but this process is punctuated by rapid loss of song material. While such changes tentatively satisfy the core criteria for cumulative cultural evolution, this claim hinges on the assumption that novel songs are preferred by females. While parsimonious, until such time as studies can link fitness benefits (reproductive success) to individual singers, any claims that humpback whale song evolution represents a form of cumulative cultural evolution may remain open to interpretation. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
- 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, Fife KY16 8LB, UK
| | - Claire Garrigue
- UMR ENTROPIE, (IRD, Université de La Réunion, Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, IFREMER, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Excellence – CORAIL), 98848 Nouméa, New Caledonia
- Opération Cétacés, 98802 Nouméa, New Caledonia
| | - Michael J. Noad
- Cetacean Ecology and Acoustics Laboratory, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia
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11
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The structure and temporal changes in brokerage typologies applied to a dynamic sow herd. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105509] [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]
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12
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Hämäläinen L, M. Rowland H, Mappes J, Thorogood R. Social information use by predators: expanding the information ecology of prey defences. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Hannah M. Rowland
- Max Planck Inst. for Chemical Ecology Jena Germany
- Dept of Zoology, Univ. of Cambridge Cambridge UK
| | - Johanna Mappes
- Research Programme in Organismal&Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
- Dept of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Finland
| | - Rose Thorogood
- Research Programme in Organismal&Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
- HiLIFE Helsinki Inst. of Life Science, Univ. of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
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13
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Klump BC, Martin JM, Wild S, Hörsch JK, Major RE, Aplin LM. Innovation and geographic spread of a complex foraging culture in an urban parrot. Science 2021; 373:456-460. [PMID: 34437121 DOI: 10.1126/science.abe7808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The emergence, spread, and establishment of innovations within cultures can promote adaptive responses to anthropogenic change. We describe a putative case of the development of a cultural adaptation to urban environments: opening of household waste bins by wild sulphur-crested cockatoos. A spatial network analysis of community science reports revealed the geographic spread of bin opening from three suburbs to 44 in Sydney, Australia, by means of social learning. Analysis of 160 direct observations revealed individual styles and site-specific differences. We describe a full pathway from the spread of innovation to emergence of geographic variation, evidencing foraging cultures in parrots and indicating the existence of cultural complexity in parrots. Bin opening is directly linked to human-provided opportunities, highlighting the potential for culture to facilitate behavioral responses to anthropogenic change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara C Klump
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell am Bodensee, Germany.
| | - John M Martin
- Taronga Institute of Science and Learning, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Bradleys Head Rd, Mosman, NSW 2088, Australia
| | - Sonja Wild
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell am Bodensee, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Jana K Hörsch
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell am Bodensee, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Richard E Major
- Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
| | - Lucy M Aplin
- Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell am Bodensee, Germany. .,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstrasse 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
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14
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Canteloup C, Cera MB, Barrett BJ, van de Waal E. Processing of novel food reveals payoff and rank-biased social learning in a wild primate. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9550. [PMID: 34006940 PMCID: PMC8131368 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88857-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Social learning—learning from others—is the basis for behavioural traditions. Different social learning strategies (SLS), where individuals biasedly learn behaviours based on their content or who demonstrates them, may increase an individual’s fitness and generate behavioural traditions. While SLS have been mostly studied in isolation, their interaction and the interplay between individual and social learning is less understood. We performed a field-based open diffusion experiment in a wild primate. We provided two groups of vervet monkeys with a novel food, unshelled peanuts, and documented how three different peanut opening techniques spread within the groups. We analysed data using hierarchical Bayesian dynamic learning models that explore the integration of multiple SLS with individual learning. We (1) report evidence of social learning compared to strictly individual learning, (2) show that vervets preferentially socially learn the technique that yields the highest observed payoff and (3) also bias attention toward individuals of higher rank. This shows that behavioural preferences can arise when individuals integrate social information about the efficiency of a behaviour alongside cues related to the rank of a demonstrator. When these preferences converge to the same behaviour in a group, they may result in stable behavioural traditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Canteloup
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, 3115, South Africa. .,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Mabia B Cera
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, 3115, South Africa
| | - Brendan J Barrett
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour, Konstanz, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.,Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology, and Culture, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, 3115, South Africa.,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
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15
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Cooperation-based concept formation in male bottlenose dolphins. Nat Commun 2021; 12:2373. [PMID: 33888703 PMCID: PMC8062458 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22668-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
In Shark Bay, Western Australia, male bottlenose dolphins form a complex nested alliance hierarchy. At the first level, pairs or trios of unrelated males cooperate to herd individual females. Multiple first-order alliances cooperate in teams (second-order alliances) in the pursuit and defence of females, and multiple teams also work together (third-order alliances). Yet it remains unknown how dolphins classify these nested alliance relationships. We use 30 years of behavioural data combined with 40 contemporary sound playback experiments to 14 allied males, recording responses with drone-mounted video and a hydrophone array. We show that males form a first-person social concept of cooperative team membership at the second-order alliance level, independently of first-order alliance history and current relationship strength across all three alliance levels. Such associative concepts develop through experience and likely played an important role in the cooperative behaviour of early humans. These results provide evidence that cooperation-based concepts are not unique to humans, occurring in other animal societies with extensive cooperation between non-kin.
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16
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DeTroy SE, Ross CT, Cronin KA, van Leeuwen EJ, Haun DB. Cofeeding tolerance in chimpanzees depends on group composition: a longitudinal study across four communities. iScience 2021; 24:102175. [PMID: 33733060 PMCID: PMC7940988 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2020] [Revised: 09/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Social tolerance is generally treated as a stable, species-specific characteristic. Recent research, however, has questioned this position and emphasized the importance of intraspecific variation. We investigate the temporal stability of social tolerance in four groups of sanctuary-housed chimpanzees over eight years using a commonly employed measure: experimental cofeeding tolerance. We then draw on longitudinal data on the demographic composition of each group to identify the factors associated with cofeeding tolerance. We find appreciable levels of variation in cofeeding tolerance across both groups and years that correspond closely to changes in group-level demographic composition. For example, cofeeding tolerance is lower when there are many females with young infants. These results suggest that social tolerance may be a "responding trait" of chimpanzee sociality, reflecting individual-level behavioral responses to social changes. Additional, experimental research is needed to better model the causal drivers of social tolerance within and among species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E. DeTroy
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department for Early Child Development and Culture, Faculty of Education, Leipzig University, Jahnallee 59, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Cody T. Ross
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Katherine A. Cronin
- Animal Welfare Science Program, Lincoln Park Zoo, 2001 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60614, USA
- Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, 1025 E. 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Edwin J.C. van Leeuwen
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Koningin Astridplein 20-26, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Daniel B.M. Haun
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department for Early Child Development and Culture, Faculty of Education, Leipzig University, Jahnallee 59, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
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17
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Animal Creativity as a Function of Behavioral Innovation and Behavior Flexibility in Problem-solving Situations. Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2021; 56:218-233. [PMID: 33733318 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-020-09586-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
A natural approach of animal creativity through insightful problem-solving may offer a panel of how physiological, contextual, cultural and developmental variables related to each other to produce new behaviors. The spontaneous interconnection of acquire behaviors is an Insightful Problem-Solving model based on the new combination and/or chaining of behaviors that were previously and independently trained. This model seems to offer an integrative alternative for the studies of Innovation and Behavioral Flexibility because it allows the research on innovation in a scenario in which the response that solves the problem situation is not available by trial-and-error. Measuring task-appropriateness by behavior flexibility and novelty by behavior innovation under insightful problem-solving paradigm can contribute for the integration of decades of evidence in Cognitive Psychology, Neuro-ethology, Behavior Analysis and Behavioral Neurosciences. The Insightful Problem-Solving allows the independent test of behavioral innovation and behavioral flexibility as it measures the behavioral innovation inside insightful test and tests if the BF depends on variables arranged in the problem-situation and/or on the previous training (e.g. familiarity with access to appetitive stimulus in the pre-test, the number of distinct behaviors trained, and contingency changes in the post-test).
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18
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Taylor H. Evidence for Teaching in an Australian Songbird. Front Psychol 2021; 12:593532. [PMID: 33692717 PMCID: PMC7937635 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.593532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Song in oscine birds (as in human speech and song) relies upon the rare capacity of vocal learning. Transmission can be vertical, horizontal, or oblique. As a rule, memorization and production by a naïve bird are not simultaneous: the long-term storage of song phrases precedes their first vocal rehearsal by months. While a wealth of detail regarding songbird enculturation has been uncovered by focusing on the apprentice, whether observational learning can fully account for the ontogeny of birdsong, or whether there could also be an element of active teaching involved, has remained an open question. Given the paucity of knowledge on animal cultures, I argue for the utility of an inclusive definition of teaching that encourages data be collected across a wide range of taxa. Borrowing insights from musicology, I introduce the Australian pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis) into the debate surrounding mechanisms of cultural transmission. I probe the relevance and utility of mentalistic, culture-based, and functionalist approaches to teaching in this species. Sonographic analysis of birdsong recordings and observational data (including photographs) of pied butcherbird behavior at one field site provide evidence that I assess based on criteria laid down by Caro and Hauser, along with later refinements to their functionalist definition. The candidate case of teaching reviewed here adds to a limited but growing body of reports supporting the notion that teaching may be more widespread than is currently realized. Nonetheless, I describe the challenges of confirming that learning has occurred in songbird pupils, given the delay between vocal instruction and production, as well as the low status accorded to anecdote and other observational evidence commonly mustered in instances of purported teaching. As a corrective, I press for an emphasis on biodiversity that will guide the study of teaching beyond human accounts and intractable discipline-specific burdens of proof.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hollis Taylor
- Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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19
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Bauer GB, Cook PF, Harley HE. The Relevance of Ecological Transitions to Intelligence in Marine Mammals. Front Psychol 2020; 11:2053. [PMID: 33013519 PMCID: PMC7505747 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Macphail's comparative approach to intelligence focused on associative processes, an orientation inconsistent with more multifaceted lay and scientific understandings of the term. His ultimate emphasis on associative processes indicated few differences in intelligence among vertebrates. We explore options more attuned to common definitions by considering intelligence in terms of richness of representations of the world, the interconnectivity of those representations, the ability to flexibly change those connections, and knowledge. We focus on marine mammals, represented by the amphibious pinnipeds and the aquatic cetaceans and sirenians, as animals that transitioned from a terrestrial existence to an aquatic one, experiencing major changes in ecological pressures. They adapted with morphological transformations related to streamlining the body, physiological changes in respiration and thermoregulation, and sensory/perceptual changes, including echolocation capabilities and diminished olfaction in many cetaceans, both in-air and underwater visual focus, and enhanced senses of touch in pinnipeds and sirenians. Having a terrestrial foundation on which aquatic capacities were overlaid likely affected their cognitive abilities, especially as a new reliance on sound and touch, and the need to surface to breath changed their interactions with the world. Vocal and behavioral observational learning capabilities in the wild and in laboratory experiments suggest versatility in group coordination. Empirical reports on aspects of intelligent behavior like problem-solving, spatial learning, and concept learning by various species of cetaceans and pinnipeds suggest rich cognitive abilities. The high energy demands of the brain suggest that brain-intelligence relationships might be fruitful areas for study when specific hypotheses are considered, e.g., brain mapping indicates hypertrophy of specific sensory areas in marine mammals. Modern neuroimaging techniques provide ways to study neural connectivity, and the patterns of connections between sensory, motor, and other cortical regions provide a biological framework for exploring how animals represent and flexibly use information in navigating and learning about their environment. At this stage of marine mammal research, it would still be prudent to follow Macphail's caution that it is premature to make strong comparative statements without more empirical evidence, but an approach that includes learning more about how animals flexibly link information across multiple representations could be a productive way of comparing species by allowing them to use their specific strengths within comparative tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gordon B Bauer
- Division of Social Sciences, New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL, United States
- Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, United States
| | - Peter F Cook
- Division of Social Sciences, New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL, United States
- Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, United States
| | - Heidi E Harley
- Division of Social Sciences, New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL, United States
- Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, United States
- The Seas, Epcot®, Walt Disney World® Resorts, Lake Buena Vista, FL, United States
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