Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components
Recent well-documented cases of cultural evolution towards increasing efficiency in non-human animals have led some authors to propose that other animals are also capable of cumulative cultural evolution, where traits become more refined and/or complex over time. Yet few comparative examples exist o...
| मुख्य लेखकों: | , , , , , |
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| स्वरूप: | Journal article |
| भाषा: | English |
| प्रकाशित: |
Royal Society
2021
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| _version_ | 1826278178795028480 |
|---|---|
| author | Wild, S Chimento, M McMahon, K Farine, DR Sheldon, BC Aplin, L |
| author_facet | Wild, S Chimento, M McMahon, K Farine, DR Sheldon, BC Aplin, L |
| author_sort | Wild, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Recent well-documented cases of cultural evolution towards increasing efficiency in non-human
animals have led some authors to propose that other animals are also capable of cumulative cultural
evolution, where traits become more refined and/or complex over time. Yet few comparative
examples exist of traits increasing in complexity, and experimental tests remain scarce. In a previous
study, we introduced a foraging innovation into replicate subpopulations of great tits, the ‘slidingdoor puzzle’. Here we track diffusion of a second ‘dial puzzle’, before introducing a two-step puzzle
that combines both actions. We mapped social networks across two generations to ask if individuals
could: 1) recombine socially-learned traits, and 2) socially transmit a two-step trait. Our results show
birds could recombine skills into more complex foraging behaviours, and naïve birds across both
generations could learn the two-step trait. However, closer interrogation revealed that acquisition
was not achieved entirely through social learning—rather, birds socially learned components before
reconstructing full solutions asocially. As a consequence, singular cultural traditions failed to emerge,
although subpopulations of birds shared preferences for a subset of behavioural variants. Our results
show that while tits can socially learn complex foraging behaviours, these may need to be scaffolded
by rewarding each component. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:40:04Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:6effa340-201b-4751-b2dd-f7eafa6d48c2 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:40:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:6effa340-201b-4751-b2dd-f7eafa6d48c22022-03-26T19:28:04ZComplex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of componentsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:6effa340-201b-4751-b2dd-f7eafa6d48c2EnglishSymplectic ElementsRoyal Society2021Wild, SChimento, MMcMahon, KFarine, DRSheldon, BCAplin, LRecent well-documented cases of cultural evolution towards increasing efficiency in non-human animals have led some authors to propose that other animals are also capable of cumulative cultural evolution, where traits become more refined and/or complex over time. Yet few comparative examples exist of traits increasing in complexity, and experimental tests remain scarce. In a previous study, we introduced a foraging innovation into replicate subpopulations of great tits, the ‘slidingdoor puzzle’. Here we track diffusion of a second ‘dial puzzle’, before introducing a two-step puzzle that combines both actions. We mapped social networks across two generations to ask if individuals could: 1) recombine socially-learned traits, and 2) socially transmit a two-step trait. Our results show birds could recombine skills into more complex foraging behaviours, and naïve birds across both generations could learn the two-step trait. However, closer interrogation revealed that acquisition was not achieved entirely through social learning—rather, birds socially learned components before reconstructing full solutions asocially. As a consequence, singular cultural traditions failed to emerge, although subpopulations of birds shared preferences for a subset of behavioural variants. Our results show that while tits can socially learn complex foraging behaviours, these may need to be scaffolded by rewarding each component. |
| spellingShingle | Wild, S Chimento, M McMahon, K Farine, DR Sheldon, BC Aplin, L Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components |
| title | Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components |
| title_full | Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components |
| title_fullStr | Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components |
| title_full_unstemmed | Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components |
| title_short | Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components |
| title_sort | complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wilds complexforagingbehavioursinwildbirdsemergefromsociallearningandrecombinationofcomponents AT chimentom complexforagingbehavioursinwildbirdsemergefromsociallearningandrecombinationofcomponents AT mcmahonk complexforagingbehavioursinwildbirdsemergefromsociallearningandrecombinationofcomponents AT farinedr complexforagingbehavioursinwildbirdsemergefromsociallearningandrecombinationofcomponents AT sheldonbc complexforagingbehavioursinwildbirdsemergefromsociallearningandrecombinationofcomponents AT aplinl complexforagingbehavioursinwildbirdsemergefromsociallearningandrecombinationofcomponents |