Cargando…
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...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
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 |
_version_ | 1782319314706104320 |
---|---|
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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4045399 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Academic Press |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT gunholdtina memorytransmissionandpersistenceofalternativeforagingtechniquesinwildcommonmarmosets AT massenjorgjm memorytransmissionandpersistenceofalternativeforagingtechniquesinwildcommonmarmosets AT schielnicola memorytransmissionandpersistenceofalternativeforagingtechniquesinwildcommonmarmosets AT soutoantonio memorytransmissionandpersistenceofalternativeforagingtechniquesinwildcommonmarmosets AT bugnyarthomas memorytransmissionandpersistenceofalternativeforagingtechniquesinwildcommonmarmosets |