Wild vervet monkeys copy alternative methods for opening an artificial fruit

Waal, Erica van de; Claidière, Nicolas; Whiten, Andrew

doi:10.1007/s10071-014-0830-4

Cited by 56 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…An explanation for the strength of this effect might lie in the fact that ours is so far the only study to seed local habits in a majority of each group. The handful of other field experiments that have seeded alternative behaviors in the wild have typically done so in only single individuals initially, and these studies have tended to demonstrate initial social learning, soon followed by corruption and erosion of group behaviors, rather than the resilience so marked in our own study where we instead simulated existing customary traditions (Kendal et al, ; Schnoell & Fichtel, ; Thornton & Malapert, ; van de Waal et al, ). Another potential explanation is that our experiment is the only one testing a preference for a food type rather than including an object or “artificial fruit” manipulation like those cited above.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this approach, founder models are trained to perform alternative behavioral solutions to naturalistic foraging problems and allowed to perform these within their group, with it being “open” who watches and potentially learns from what is modelled, and the subsequent behavior of observers is monitored through further experimental presentations. Although only a few such studies have been completed in the wild, they have delivered positive evidence of diffusion, in birds (Aplin, Sheldon, & Morand‐Ferron, ; Aplin et al, ), meerkats (Thornton & Malapert, ) and monkeys (van de Waal, Claidière, & Whiten, ). However, the evidence for longevity in the alternatives that start to diffuse, and hence form incipient traditions, is more mixed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the evidence for longevity in the alternatives that start to diffuse, and hence form incipient traditions, is more mixed. In many such studies the seeded options tend initially to be copied, but individuals’ discovery of the alternative option may then erode the behavioral differences over time, such that stable alternative traditions are not necessarily sustained (Kendal et al, ; Schnoell & Fichtel, ; Thornton & Malapert, ; van de Waal et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience of experimentally seeded dietary traditions in wild vervets: Evidence from group fissions

Waal

Schaik

Whiten

2017

American J Primatol

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Controlled laboratory experiments have delivered extensive and compelling evidence for the diffusion and maintenance of socially learned behavior in primates and other animals. Such evidence is rarer in the wild, but we show that a behavior seeded in a majority of individuals within vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythus) groups may be sustained across several years. Here, we report results of two natural fission events in such groups that offer novel evidence of the resilience of socially transmitted group norms of behavior. Before fission, high ranked females exhibited an almost exclusive adherence to a group preference among two food options, originally introduced through a distasteful additive in one option, but no longer present in repeated later tests. Because of rank-dependent competition, low-ranked females ate more of the formerly distasteful food and so discovered it was now as palatable as the alternative. Despite this experience, low ranked females who formed the splinter groups then expressed a 100% bias for the preferred option of their original parent group, revealing these preferences to be resilient. We interpret this effect as conformity to either the preferences of high rankers or of a majority in the parent group, or both. However, given fissioned individuals' familiarity with their habitat and experimental options, we question the adequacy of the informational function usually ascribed to conformity and discuss alternatives under a concept of "social conformity".

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Resilience of experimentally seeded dietary traditions in wild vervets: Evidence from group fissions

Waal

Schaik

Whiten

2017

American J Primatol

Self Cite

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“…Studies of multiple groups of wild primates within single populations have demonstrated social learning through field experiments (in four groups of lemurs, Schnoell & Fichtel, ; in up to 13 groups of marmosets, Gunhold, Massen, Schiel, Souto, & Bugnyar, ; Gunhold Whiten, & Bugnyar, ; in up to six groups of vervet monkeys, van de Waal et al, ; van de Waal et al, ; van de Waal, Borgeaud, et al, ; de Waal et al, ; de Waal, Claidière, & Whiten, ; van de Waal & Bshary, ). However, long‐term observations of these populations, with the aim of revealing potential intergroup differences, are to my knowledge lacking, until this present review of behavioural variation in wild vervet monkeys.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the neglected behavioural variation among neighbouring primate groups

Waal

2018

Ethology

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Behavioural variation in primates has been well studied at the level of individuals by behavioural ecologists, and more recently at a population level by cultural biologists. Behavioural differences between groups of the same population, however, have rarely been considered. Here, I review intergroup variation in universally occurring behaviours between up to six neighbouring groups of vervet monkeys. Group differences have been found in several domains including foraging, conflicts, grooming and proximity. An exclusively ecological explanation for the observed variation appears implausible, as these monkey groups have overlapping home ranges, and their ecology is therefore very similar. The presence of a genetic bias underlying the observed group differences is also implausible, as males disperse between groups at sexual maturity and multiple times within their lives creating a continuous gene flow between the six groups. This leaves socially learned group‐level traditions as the most plausible explanation. I discuss ways in which this working conclusion can be tested. The likely presence of group‐level traditions in close proximity, well known in humans, has rarely been considered for non‐human primates and adds an important dimension to research on conformity in non‐human cultures.

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“…1). The box was similar to that used with vervet monkeys ( Chlorocebus pygerythrus ), but modified so that there was only one option to open the door: sliding it with a handle (van de Waal et al 2013, 2015). We attached the box either to a foraging platform or to branches at human chest level.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food-Offering Calls in Wild Golden Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia): Evidence for Teaching Behavior?

et al. 2018

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Many animals emit calls in the presence of food, but researchers do not always know the function of these calls. Evidence suggests that adult golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia) use food-offering calls to teach juveniles which substrate (i.e., microhabitat) to forage on, or in, for food. However, we do not yet know whether juveniles learn from this aspect of the adults’ behavior. Here we examine whether juveniles learn to associate food-offering calls with a foraging substrate, as a step toward assessing whether these calls qualify as teaching behavior. We compared the performance of four wild juvenile golden lion tamarins that were introduced to a novel substrate while exposed to playbacks of food-offering calls (experimental condition) to the performance of three juveniles that were exposed to the novel substrate without the presence of food-offering playbacks (control condition). We varied the location of the novel substrate between trials. We found that food-offering calls had an immediate effect on juveniles’ interactions with the novel substrate, whether they inserted their hands into the substrate and their eating behavior, and a long-term effect on eating behavior at the substrate. The findings imply that juvenile golden lion tamarins can learn through food-offering calls about the availability of food at a substrate, which is consistent with (but does not prove) teaching in golden lion tamarins through stimulus enhancement. Our findings support the hypothesis that teaching might be more likely to evolve in cooperatively breeding species with complex ecological niches.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10764-018-0069-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Wild vervet monkeys copy alternative methods for opening an artificial fruit

Abstract: 18Experimental studies of animal social learning in the wild remain rare, especially those that The option preferred in all 13 monkey's first successful manipulation session was highly 27 correlated with the proportional frequency of that option they had previously witnessed. The

Cited by 56 publications

References 67 publications

Resilience of experimentally seeded dietary traditions in wild vervets: Evidence from group fissions

Resilience of experimentally seeded dietary traditions in wild vervets: Evidence from group fissions

On the neglected behavioural variation among neighbouring primate groups

Food-Offering Calls in Wild Golden Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia): Evidence for Teaching Behavior?

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