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Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets

Experimental studies on traditions in animals have focused almost entirely on the initial transmission phase in captive populations. We conducted an open diffusion field experiment with 13 groups of wild common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. Seven groups contained individuals that were already famil...

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Autores principales: Gunhold, Tina, Massen, Jorg J.M., Schiel, Nicola, Souto, Antonio, Bugnyar, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Academic Press 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24910466
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.02.023
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author Gunhold, Tina
Massen, Jorg J.M.
Schiel, Nicola
Souto, Antonio
Bugnyar, Thomas
author_facet Gunhold, Tina
Massen, Jorg J.M.
Schiel, Nicola
Souto, Antonio
Bugnyar, Thomas
author_sort Gunhold, Tina
collection PubMed
description Experimental studies on traditions in animals have focused almost entirely on the initial transmission phase in captive populations. We conducted an open diffusion field experiment with 13 groups of wild common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. Seven groups contained individuals that were already familiar with the task (‘push or pull’ box) and thus served as potential models for naïve individuals. Additionally, in four groups one individual was trained for one of the two possible techniques and in two control groups no skilled individuals were present. First, we investigated whether experienced individuals would remember how to solve the task even after 2 years without exposure and whether they would still prefer their learned technique. Second, we tested whether naïve individuals would learn socially from their skilled family members and, more importantly, whether they would use the same technique. Third, we conducted several test blocks to see whether the individual and/or group behaviour would persist over time. Our results show that wild common marmosets were able to memorize, learn socially and maintain preferences of foraging techniques. This field experiment thus reveals a promising approach to studying social learning in the wild and provides the basis for long-term studies on tradition formation.
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spelling pubmed-40453992014-06-06 Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets Gunhold, Tina Massen, Jorg J.M. Schiel, Nicola Souto, Antonio Bugnyar, Thomas Anim Behav Article Experimental studies on traditions in animals have focused almost entirely on the initial transmission phase in captive populations. We conducted an open diffusion field experiment with 13 groups of wild common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. Seven groups contained individuals that were already familiar with the task (‘push or pull’ box) and thus served as potential models for naïve individuals. Additionally, in four groups one individual was trained for one of the two possible techniques and in two control groups no skilled individuals were present. First, we investigated whether experienced individuals would remember how to solve the task even after 2 years without exposure and whether they would still prefer their learned technique. Second, we tested whether naïve individuals would learn socially from their skilled family members and, more importantly, whether they would use the same technique. Third, we conducted several test blocks to see whether the individual and/or group behaviour would persist over time. Our results show that wild common marmosets were able to memorize, learn socially and maintain preferences of foraging techniques. This field experiment thus reveals a promising approach to studying social learning in the wild and provides the basis for long-term studies on tradition formation. Academic Press 2014-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4045399/ /pubmed/24910466 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.02.023 Text en © 2014 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gunhold, Tina
Massen, Jorg J.M.
Schiel, Nicola
Souto, Antonio
Bugnyar, Thomas
Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets
title Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets
title_full Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets
title_fullStr Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets
title_full_unstemmed Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets
title_short Memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets
title_sort memory, transmission and persistence of alternative foraging techniques in wild common marmosets
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045399/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24910466
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.02.023
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