A multicomponent approach to studying cultural propensities during foraging in the wild

Abstract

Determining the cultural propensities or cultural behaviours of a species during foraging entails an investigation of underlying drivers and motivations. 2.In this article, we propose a multi-component approach involving behaviour, ecology, and physiology to accelerate the study of cultural propensities in the wild. 3.We propose as the first component the use of field experiments that simulate natural contexts, such as foraging behaviours and tool use opportunities, to explore social learning and cultural tendencies in a variety of species. To further accelerate this component, we discuss and advocate for the use of modern machine learning video analysis tools. 4.In conjunction, we examine non-invasive methods to measure ecological influences on foraging such as phenology, fruit availability, dietary intake; and physiological influences such as stress, protein balance, energetics, and metabolism. We feature non-invasive urine sampling to investigate urea, creatinine, ketone bodies, the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3), cortisol and Connecting peptides of insulin. 5.To conclude, we highlight the benefits of combining ecological and physiological conditions with behavioural field experiments. This can be done across wild species, and provides the framework needed to test ecological hypotheses related to cultural behaviour.

Striking pay dirt: Contemporary methods for studying animal sociality in the wild

“…Instead, ethical considerations should push researchers to develop their research protocols in view of limiting their impact on wild animals, while still extracting as much information as they can at one time, to avoid the need to re‐expose animals indefinitely. Crucially, the methods presented in this Special Feature will all facilitate this, be it by automatizing feeders (Harrison et al, 2023; Wild et al, 2022), or by making extensive use of remote sensing (He et al, 2022; King & Jensen, 2022; Mannion et al, 2022; Sarabian et al, 2023) thus showing that the study of sociality in the wild is not incompatible with the use of contemporary methods. In fact, such methods should be tested to explore the limits of their use on different species and produce reasonable do‐or‐do not guidelines that can guide the design and implementation of future research.…”

“…The use of remote cameras is also chosen by several other researchers in this Special Feature to limit their impact on animals. Mannion et al (2022), for example, implement field experiments to study cultural propensities in wild chimpanzees Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii . Nevertheless, they also discuss how much behaviour is lost in the process of solely relying on remote cameras and advocate for a multidimensional approach using both ecological and physiological markers to complement the video data.…”