Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait
The importance of cultural processes to behavioural diversity in our closest living relatives is central to revealing the evolutionary origins of human culture. However, the bonobo is often overlooked as a candidate model. Further, a prominent critique to many examples of proposed animal cultures is...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2020-09-01
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| Series: | eLife |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/59191 |
| _version_ | 1811252902243598336 |
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| author | Liran Samuni Franziska Wegdell Martin Surbeck |
| author_facet | Liran Samuni Franziska Wegdell Martin Surbeck |
| author_sort | Liran Samuni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The importance of cultural processes to behavioural diversity in our closest living relatives is central to revealing the evolutionary origins of human culture. However, the bonobo is often overlooked as a candidate model. Further, a prominent critique to many examples of proposed animal cultures is premature exclusion of environmental confounds known to shape behavioural phenotypes. We addressed these gaps by investigating variation in prey preference between neighbouring bonobo groups that associate and overlap space use. We find group preference for duiker or anomalure hunting otherwise unexplained by variation in spatial usage, seasonality, or hunting party size, composition, and cohesion. Our findings demonstrate that group-specific behaviours emerge independently of the local ecology, indicating that hunting techniques in bonobos may be culturally transmitted. The tolerant intergroup relations of bonobos offer an ideal context to explore drivers of behavioural phenotypes, the essential investigations for phylogenetic constructs of the evolutionary origins of culture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:42:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a1677a643a8c4219aac668f8c4b9a10f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:42:31Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-a1677a643a8c4219aac668f8c4b9a10f2022-12-22T03:24:44ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2020-09-01910.7554/eLife.59191Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural traitLiran Samuni0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7957-6050Franziska Wegdell1Martin Surbeck2Harvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Cambridge, United States; Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyBonobo Conservation Initiative, Washington, United StatesHarvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Cambridge, United States; Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Bonobo Conservation Initiative, Washington, United StatesThe importance of cultural processes to behavioural diversity in our closest living relatives is central to revealing the evolutionary origins of human culture. However, the bonobo is often overlooked as a candidate model. Further, a prominent critique to many examples of proposed animal cultures is premature exclusion of environmental confounds known to shape behavioural phenotypes. We addressed these gaps by investigating variation in prey preference between neighbouring bonobo groups that associate and overlap space use. We find group preference for duiker or anomalure hunting otherwise unexplained by variation in spatial usage, seasonality, or hunting party size, composition, and cohesion. Our findings demonstrate that group-specific behaviours emerge independently of the local ecology, indicating that hunting techniques in bonobos may be culturally transmitted. The tolerant intergroup relations of bonobos offer an ideal context to explore drivers of behavioural phenotypes, the essential investigations for phylogenetic constructs of the evolutionary origins of culture.https://elifesciences.org/articles/59191Pan paniscusHuntinggroup specificintergroup dynamicsculture |
| spellingShingle | Liran Samuni Franziska Wegdell Martin Surbeck Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait eLife Pan paniscus Hunting group specific intergroup dynamics culture |
| title | Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait |
| title_full | Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait |
| title_fullStr | Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait |
| title_full_unstemmed | Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait |
| title_short | Behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait |
| title_sort | behavioural diversity of bonobo prey preference as a potential cultural trait |
| topic | Pan paniscus Hunting group specific intergroup dynamics culture |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/59191 |
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