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van Leeuwen EJC, DeTroy SE, Haun DBM, Call J. Chimpanzees use social information to acquire a skill they fail to innovate. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:891-902. [PMID: 38448718 PMCID: PMC11132989 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01836-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
Cumulative cultural evolution has been claimed to be a uniquely human phenomenon pivotal to the biological success of our species. One plausible condition for cumulative cultural evolution to emerge is individuals' ability to use social learning to acquire know-how that they cannot easily innovate by themselves. It has been suggested that chimpanzees may be capable of such know-how social learning, but this assertion remains largely untested. Here we show that chimpanzees use social learning to acquire a skill that they failed to independently innovate. By teaching chimpanzees how to solve a sequential task (one chimpanzee in each of the two tested groups, n = 66) and using network-based diffusion analysis, we found that 14 naive chimpanzees learned to operate a puzzle box that they failed to operate during the preceding three months of exposure to all necessary materials. In conjunction, we present evidence for the hypothesis that social learning in chimpanzees is necessary and sufficient to acquire a new, complex skill after the initial innovation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin J C van Leeuwen
- Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
| | - Sarah E DeTroy
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Daniel B M Haun
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Josep Call
- School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
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2
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Kerjean E, van de Waal E, Canteloup C. Social dynamics of vervet monkeys are dependent upon group identity. iScience 2024; 27:108591. [PMID: 38299029 PMCID: PMC10829874 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Traditions are widespread across the animal realm. Here, we investigated inter-group variability of social dynamics in wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). We analyzed 84,704 social interactions involving 247 individuals collected over nine years in three neighboring groups of wild vervet monkeys. We found that in one group - Ankhase - individuals had a higher propensity to be affiliative (i.e., sociality) and grooming interactions were more reciprocal. Despite yearly fluctuations in sociality, differences between groups remained stable over time. Moreover, our statistical model predictions confirmed that these findings were maintained for similar sex ratios, age distributions, and group sizes. Strikingly, our results suggested that dispersing males adapted their sociality to the sociality of the group they integrated with. As a whole, our study sheds light on the existence of stable social dynamics dependent upon group identity in wild vervet monkeys and suggests that at least part of this variability is socially mediated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Kerjean
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- Research Center on Animal Cognition, Center of Integrative Biology, University of Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Erica van de Waal
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Center for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- The Sense Innovation and Research Center, Lausanne and Sion, Vaud, Switzerland
| | - Charlotte Canteloup
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- Inkawu Vervet Project, Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Center for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- The Sense Innovation and Research Center, Lausanne and Sion, Vaud, Switzerland
- Laboratory of Cognitive & Adaptive Neurosciences, CNRS - UMR 7364, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
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3
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Townsend C, Ferraro JV, Habecker H, Flinn MV. Human cooperation and evolutionary transitions in individuality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210414. [PMID: 36688393 PMCID: PMC9869453 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
A major evolutionary transition in individuality involves the formation of a cooperative group and the transformation of that group into an evolutionary entity. Human cooperation shares principles with those of multicellular organisms that have undergone transitions in individuality: division of labour, communication, and fitness interdependence. After the split from the last common ancestor of hominoids, early hominins adapted to an increasingly terrestrial niche for several million years. We posit that new challenges in this niche set in motion a positive feedback loop in selection pressure for cooperation that ratcheted coevolutionary changes in sociality, communication, brains, cognition, kin relations and technology, eventually resulting in egalitarian societies with suppressed competition and rapid cumulative culture. The increasing pace of information innovation and transmission became a key aspect of the evolutionary niche that enabled humans to become formidable cooperators with explosive population growth, the ability to cooperate and compete in groups of millions, and emergent social norms, e.g. private property. Despite considerable fitness interdependence, the rise of private property, in concert with population explosion and socioeconomic inequality, subverts potential transition of human groups into evolutionary entities due to resurgence of latent competition and conflict. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cathryn Townsend
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Joseph V. Ferraro
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Heather Habecker
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
| | - Mark V. Flinn
- Department of Anthropology, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA
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Chimpanzee communities differ in their inter- and intrasexual social relationships. Learn Behav 2023; 51:48-58. [PMID: 36725763 PMCID: PMC9971155 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-023-00570-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Male and female human social bonding strategies are culturally shaped, in addition to being genetically rooted. Investigating nonhuman primate bonding strategies across sex groups allows researchers to assess whether, as with humans, they are shaped by the social environment or whether they are genetically predisposed. Studies of wild chimpanzees show that in some communities males have strong bonds with other males, whereas in others, females form particularly strong intrasex bonds, potentially indicative of cultural differences across populations. However, excluding genetic or ecological explanations when comparing different wild populations is difficult. Here, we applied social network analysis to examine male and female social bonds in two neighbouring semiwild chimpanzee groups of comparable ecological conditions and subspecies compositions, but that differ in demographic makeup. Results showed differences in bonding strategies across the two groups. While female-female party co-residence patterns were significantly stronger in Group 1 (which had an even distribution of males and females) than in Group 2 (which had a higher proportion of females than males), there were no such differences for male-male or male-female associations. Conversely, female-female grooming bonds were stronger in Group 2 than in Group 1. We also found that, in line with captive studies but contrasting research with wild chimpanzees, maternal kinship strongly predicted proximity and grooming patterns across the groups. Our findings suggest that, as with humans, male and female chimpanzee social bonds are influenced by the specific social group they live in, rather than predisposed sex-based bonding strategies.
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Garcia-Nisa I, Evans C, Kendal RL. The influence of task difficulty, social tolerance and model success on social learning in Barbary macaques. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1176. [PMID: 36670123 PMCID: PMC9860066 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26699-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite playing a pivotal role in the inception of animal culture studies, macaque social learning is surprisingly understudied. Social learning is important to survival and influenced by dominance and affiliation in social animals. Individuals generally rely on social learning when individual learning is costly, and selectively use social learning strategies influencing what is learned and from whom. Here, we combined social learning experiments, using extractive foraging tasks, with network-based diffusion analysis (using various social relationships) to investigate the transmission of social information in free-ranging Barbary macaques. We also investigated the influence of task difficulty on reliance on social information and evidence for social learning strategies. Social learning was detected for the most difficult tasks only, with huddling relations outside task introductions, and observation networks during task introductions, predicting social transmission. For the most difficult task only, individuals appeared to employ a social learning strategy of copying the most successful demonstrator observed. Results indicate that high social tolerance represents social learning opportunities and influences social learning processes. The reliance of Barbary macaques on social learning, and cues of model-success supports the costly information hypothesis. Our study provides more statistical evidence to the previous claims indicative of culture in macaques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Garcia-Nisa
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
| | - Cara Evans
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - Rachel L Kendal
- Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, UK
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Saliveros AM, Bowden-Parry M, McAusland F, Boogert NJ. Captive Asian short-clawed otters ( Aonyx cinereus) learn to exploit unfamiliar natural prey. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:211819. [PMID: 35706667 PMCID: PMC9174724 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.211819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Foraging plays a vital role in animal life histories, and learning whether unfamiliar food items are palatable is a key part of this process. Animals that engage in extractive foraging must also learn how to overcome the protective measures of their prey. While otters (subfamily Lutrinae) are a taxon known for their extractive foraging behaviour, how they learn about prey palatability and acquire extractive foraging techniques remains poorly understood. Here we investigated (i) how captive Asian short-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus) learned to interact with, and extract meat from, unfamiliar natural prey and (ii) how their exploitation of such prey compared to their ability to overcome artificial foraging tasks containing familiar food rewards. Network-based diffusion analysis showed that otters learned to interact with unfamiliar natural prey by observing their group mates. However, once interacting with the prey, they learned to extract the meat mainly asocially. In addition, otters took longer to overcome the protective measures of unfamiliar natural prey than those of extractive food puzzles. Asian short-clawed otter populations are declining in the wild. Increasing our understanding of how they learn to overcome novel foraging challenges could help develop pre-release training procedures as part of reintroduction programmes for otter conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander M. Saliveros
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Madison Bowden-Parry
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Fraser McAusland
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Neeltje J. Boogert
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
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Migliano AB, Vinicius L. The origins of human cumulative culture: from the foraging niche to collective intelligence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200317. [PMID: 34894737 PMCID: PMC8666907 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Various studies have investigated cognitive mechanisms underlying culture in humans and other great apes. However, the adaptive reasons for the evolution of uniquely sophisticated cumulative culture in our species remain unclear. We propose that the cultural capabilities of humans are the evolutionary result of a stepwise transition from the ape-like lifestyle of earlier hominins to the foraging niche still observed in extant hunter-gatherers. Recent ethnographic, archaeological and genetic studies have provided compelling evidence that the components of the foraging niche (social egalitarianism, sexual and social division of labour, extensive co-residence and cooperation with unrelated individuals, multilocality, fluid sociality and high between-camp mobility) engendered a unique multilevel social structure where the cognitive mechanisms underlying cultural evolution (high-fidelity transmission, innovation, teaching, recombination, ratcheting) evolved as adaptations. Therefore, multilevel sociality underlies a 'social ratchet' or irreversible task specialization splitting the burden of cultural knowledge across individuals, which may explain why human collective intelligence is uniquely able to produce sophisticated cumulative culture. The foraging niche perspective may explain why a complex gene-culture dual inheritance system evolved uniquely in humans and interprets the cultural, morphological and genetic origins of Homo sapiens as a process of recombination of innovations appearing in differentiated but interconnected populations. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucio Vinicius
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, ZH, Switzerland
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Abstract
Culture is a hallmark of the human species, both in terms of the transmission of material inventions (e.g. tool manufacturing) and the adherence to social conventions (e.g. greeting mannerisms). While material culture has been reported across the animal kingdom, indications of social culture in animals are limited. Moreover, there is a paucity of evidencing cultural stability in animals. Here, based on a large dataset spanning 12 years, I show that chimpanzees adhere to arbitrary group-specific handclasp preferences that cannot be explained by genetics or the ecological environment. Despite substantial changes in group compositions across the study period, and all chimpanzees having several behavioural variants in their repertoires, chimpanzees showed and maintained the within-group homogeneity and between-group heterogeneity that are so characteristic of the cultural phenomenon in the human species. These findings indicate that human culture, including its arbitrary social conventions and long-term stability, is rooted in our evolutionary history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin J. C. van Leeuwen
- Department for Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- Behavioral Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Koningin Astridplein 26, 2018, Antwerp, Belgium
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9
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Goldsborough Z, Webb CE, de Waal FB, van Leeuwen EJ. Zoo-housed female chimpanzee adopts local female-specific tradition upon immigrating into a new group. BEHAVIOUR 2021. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Wild female chimpanzees typically migrate to a neighbouring community at the onset of sexual maturity, a process that can be dangerous and unpredictable. To mitigate the risk of rejection in the new community, immigrants may employ several behavioural strategies. During the integration of two chimpanzee females at Royal Burgers’ Zoo (Arnhem, The Netherlands) one of the immigrant females rapidly copied a local tradition — the crossed-arm walk — which has been present in the group for over 20 years. She copied the behaviour after meeting only one resident female, and showed the behaviour frequently throughout a 6-month observation period following the introduction. The other immigrant female never adopted the crossed-arm walk, highlighting the variation in behaviour by immigrants upon integration, as well as the potential associated consequences: in a separate observation period 2 years later, the female who copied the local tradition appeared more socially integrated than the other immigrant female.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoë Goldsborough
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Christine E. Webb
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Frans B.M. de Waal
- Animal Ecology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Edwin J.C. van Leeuwen
- Behavioral Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
- Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
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10
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The influence of sex, rearing history, and personality on abnormal behaviour in zoo-housed bonobos (Pan paniscus). Appl Anim Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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11
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Saliveros AM, Blyth EC, Easter C, Hume GV, McAusland F, Hoppitt W, Boogert NJ. Learning strategies and long-term memory in Asian short-clawed otters ( Aonyx cinereus). ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:201215. [PMID: 33391803 PMCID: PMC7735368 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 10/19/2020] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Social learning, where information is acquired from others, is taxonomically widespread. There is growing evidence that animals selectively employ 'social learning strategies', which determine e.g. when to copy others instead of learning asocially and whom to copy. Furthermore, once animals have acquired new information, e.g. regarding profitable resources, it is beneficial for them to commit it to long-term memory (LTM), especially if it allows access to profitable resources in the future. Research into social learning strategies and LTM has covered a wide range of taxa. However, otters (subfamily Lutrinae), popular in zoos due to their social nature and playfulness, remained neglected until a recent study provided evidence of social learning in captive smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata), but not in Asian short-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus). We investigated Asian short-clawed otters' learning strategies and LTM performance in a foraging context. We presented novel extractive foraging tasks twice to captive family groups and used network-based diffusion analysis to provide evidence of a capacity for social learning and LTM in this species. A major cause of wild Asian short-clawed otter declines is prey scarcity. Furthering our understanding of how they learn about and remember novel food sources could inform key conservation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander M. Saliveros
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Eleanor C. Blyth
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Carrie Easter
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Georgina V. Hume
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Fraser McAusland
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
| | - William Hoppitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Neeltje J. Boogert
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK
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12
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Whiten A. Does culture shape hunting behavior in bonobos? eLife 2020; 9:e62104. [PMID: 32869742 PMCID: PMC7462600 DOI: 10.7554/elife.62104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
New evidence that neighboring communities of bonobos hunt different prey species, despite extensive overlaps in where they live and hunt, is difficult to explain without invoking cultural factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- School of Psychology, University of St AndrewsSt AndrewsUnited Kingdom
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