Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use
The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal b...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2020-09-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/9877.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827607112289615872 |
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| author | Elisa Bandini Claudio Tennie |
| author_facet | Elisa Bandini Claudio Tennie |
| author_sort | Elisa Bandini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:48:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1eac0520654c4f88b74788d41ed63c87 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:48:57Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-1eac0520654c4f88b74788d41ed63c872023-12-03T10:29:27ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592020-09-018e987710.7717/peerj.9877Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-useElisa BandiniClaudio TennieThe notion that tool-use is unique to humans has long been refuted by the growing number of observations of animals using tools across various contexts. Yet, the mechanisms behind the emergence and sustenance of these tool-use repertoires are still heavily debated. We argue that the current animal behaviour literature is biased towards a social learning approach, in which animal, and in particular primate, tool-use repertoires are thought to require social learning mechanisms (copying variants of social learning are most often invoked). However, concrete evidence for a widespread dependency on social learning is still lacking. On the other hand, a growing body of observational and experimental data demonstrates that various animal species are capable of acquiring the forms of their tool-use behaviours via individual learning, with (non-copying) social learning regulating the frequencies of the behavioural forms within (and, indirectly, between) groups. As a first outline of the extent of the role of individual learning in animal tool-use, a literature review of reports of the spontaneous acquisition of animal tool-use behaviours was carried out across observational and experimental studies. The results of this review suggest that perhaps due to the pervasive focus on social learning in the literature, accounts of the individual learning of tool-use forms by naïve animals may have been largely overlooked, and their importance under-examined.https://peerj.com/articles/9877.pdfAnimal tool-useIndividual learningSocial learningPrimatologyCultural evolution |
| spellingShingle | Elisa Bandini Claudio Tennie Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use PeerJ Animal tool-use Individual learning Social learning Primatology Cultural evolution |
| title | Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use |
| title_full | Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use |
| title_short | Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use |
| title_sort | exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool use |
| topic | Animal tool-use Individual learning Social learning Primatology Cultural evolution |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/9877.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elisabandini exploringtheroleofindividuallearninginanimaltooluse AT claudiotennie exploringtheroleofindividuallearninginanimaltooluse |