Abstract
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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 79-91 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Animal Behaviour |
Volume | 91 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2014 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This study was supported by FWF (Austrian Science Fund) project Y366-B17 to T.B., a KWA fellowship of the University of Vienna and an IPS research grant to T.G., and a Lise Meitner fellowship of the FWF ( M 1351-B17 ) to J.J.M.M. We thank Ludwig Huber, Friederike Range and Mario B. Pesendorfer for their roles in initiating social learning studies on wild marmosets, and Orlaith Fraser, Markus Böckle, Corsin Müller and Claudia Stephan for constructive feedback on the manuscript and statistical advice. We are also grateful to Vedrana Šlipogor who served as independent coder and to Nichola Raihani, Angela Turner as well as three anonymous referees for useful comments on the manuscript.
Keywords
- Common marmoset
- Field experiment
- Memory
- Persistence
- Social learning
- Tradition