1
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Bandini E, Tennie C. Naïve, adult, captive chimpanzees do not socially learn how to make and use sharp stone tools. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22733. [PMID: 38123639 PMCID: PMC10733399 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49780-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Although once regarded as a unique human feature, tool-use is widespread in the animal kingdom. Some of the most proficient tool-users are our closest living relatives, chimpanzees. These repertoires however consist primarily of tool use, rather than tool manufacture (for later use). Furthermore, most populations of chimpanzees use organic materials, such as sticks and leaves, rather than stones as tools. This distinction may be partly ecological, but it is also important as chimpanzees are often used as models for the evolution of human material culture, the oldest traces of which consist of manufactured sharp stone tools (so-called "flakes"). Thus, examining the conditions (if any) under which chimpanzees may develop flake manufacture and use can provide insight into the drivers of these behaviours in our own lineage. Previous studies on non-human apes' ability to make and use flakes focused on enculturated apes, giving them full demonstrations of the behaviour immediately, without providing social information on the task in a stepwise manner. Here we tested naïve, captive chimpanzees (N = 4; three potentially enculturated and one unenculturated subject) in a social learning experimental paradigm to investigate whether enculturated and/or unenculturated chimpanzees would develop flake making and use after social information of various degrees (including a human demonstration) was provided in a scaffolded manner. Even though social learning opportunities were provided, neither the unenculturated subject nor any of the potentially enculturated subjects made or used flakes, in stark contrast to previous studies with enculturated apes. These data suggest that flake manufacture and use is outside of our tested group of captive chimpanzees' individual and social learning repertoires. It also suggests that high levels of enculturation alongside human demonstrations (and/or training) may be required before captive chimpanzees can develop this behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Bandini
- Department of Geosciences, Working Group Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department of Geosciences, Working Group Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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2
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Rössler T, Auersperg AM. Recent developments in parrot cognition: a quadrennial update. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:199-228. [PMID: 36547738 PMCID: PMC9877086 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01733-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 12/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Psittacines, along with corvids, are commonly referred to as 'feathered apes' due to their advanced cognitive abilities. Until rather recently, the research effort on parrot cognition was lagging behind that on corvids, however current developments show that the number of parrot studies is steadily increasing. In 2018, M. L. Lambert et al. provided a comprehensive review on the status of the most important work done so far in parrot and corvid cognition. Nevertheless, only a little more than 4 years after this publication, more than 50 new parrot studies have been published, some of them chartering completely new territory. On the 25th anniversary of Animal Cognition we think this warrants a detailed review of parrot cognition research over the last 4 years. We aim to capture recent developments and current trends in this rapidly expanding and diversifying field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theresa Rössler
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria ,grid.10420.370000 0001 2286 1424Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Alice M. Auersperg
- Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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3
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Cytoarchitecture, myeloarchitecture, and parcellation of the chimpanzee inferior parietal lobe. Brain Struct Funct 2023; 228:63-82. [PMID: 35676436 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-022-02514-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2022] [Accepted: 05/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The parietal lobe is a region of especially pronounced change in human brain evolution. Based on comparative neuroanatomical studies, the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) has been shown to be disproportionately larger in humans relative to chimpanzees and macaques. However, it remains unclear whether the underlying histological architecture of IPL cortical areas displays human-specific organization. Chimpanzees are among the closest living relatives of humans, making them an ideal comparative species to investigate potential evolutionary changes in the IPL. We parcellated the chimpanzee IPL using cytoarchitecture and myeloarchitecture, in combination with quantitative comparison of cellular features between the identified cortical areas. Four major areas on the lateral convexity of the chimpanzee IPL (PF, PFG, PG, OPT) and two opercular areas (PFOP, PGOP) were identified, similar to what has been observed in macaques. Analysis of the quantitative profiles of cytoarchitecture showed that cell profile density was significantly different in a combination of layers III, IV, and V between bordering cortical areas, and that the density profiles of these six areas supports their classification as distinct. The similarity to macaque IPL cytoarchitecture suggests that chimpanzees share homologous IPL areas. In comparison, human rostral IPL is reported to differ in its anatomical organization and to contain additional subdivisions, such as areas PFt and PFm. These changes in human brain evolution might have been important as tool making capacities became more complex.
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4
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Jacobs I, Osvath M. Tool use and tooling in ravens (
Corvus corax
): A review and novel observations. Ethology 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ivo Jacobs
- Department of Cognitive Science Lund University Lund Sweden
| | - Mathias Osvath
- Department of Cognitive Science Lund University Lund Sweden
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5
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Steinberg DL, Lynch JW, Cartmill EA. A robust tool kit: First report of tool use in captive crested capuchin monkeys (Sapajus robustus). Am J Primatol 2022; 84:e23428. [PMID: 35942577 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2022] [Revised: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 07/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Primate tool use is of great interest but has been reported only in a limited number of species. Here we report tool use in crested capuchin monkeys (Sapajus robustus), an almost completely unstudied robust capuchin species. Crested capuchins and their sister species, the yellow-breasted capuchin, diverged from a common ancestor over 2 million years ago, so this study fills a significant gap in understanding of tool use capacity and variation within the robust capuchin monkey radiation. Our study group was a captive population of seven individuals at the Santa Ana Zoo in California. The monkeys were given no prior training, and they were provided with a variety of enrichment items, including materials that could be used as tools as well as hard-to-access resources, for open-ended interactions. In 54 observation hours, monkeys performed eleven tool use actions: digging, hammering, probing, raking, sponging, striking, sweeping, throwing, waving, wedging, and wiping. We observed tool modification, serial tool use, and social learning opportunities, including monkeys' direct observation of tool use and tolerated scrounging of foods obtained through tool use. We also observed significant individual skew in tool use frequency, with one individual using tools daily, and two individuals never using tools during the study. While crested capuchins have never been reported to use tools in the wild, our findings provide evidence for the species' capacity and propensity for tool use, highlighting the urgent need for research on this understudied, endangered primate. By providing detailed data on clearly identified S. robustus individuals, this study marks an effort to counteract the overgeneralization in the captive literature in referring to any robust capuchins of unknown provenance or ancestry as Cebus apella, a practice that obfuscates potential differences among species in tool use performance and repertoire in one of the only species-rich tool-using genera in the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle L Steinberg
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Jessica W Lynch
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Division of Life Sciences, Institute for Society and Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Erica A Cartmill
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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6
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Masi S, Pouydebat E, San-Galli A, Meulman E, Breuer T, Reeves J, Tennie C. Free hand hitting of stone-like objects in wild gorillas. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11981. [PMID: 35840637 PMCID: PMC9287431 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15542-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The earliest stone tool types, sharp flakes knapped from stone cores, are assumed to have played a crucial role in human cognitive evolution. Flaked stone tools have been observed to be accidentally produced when wild monkeys use handheld stones as tools. Holding a stone core in hand and hitting it with another in the absence of flaking, free hand hitting, has been considered a requirement for producing sharp stone flakes by hitting stone on stone, free hand percussion. We report on five observations of free hand hitting behavior in two wild western gorillas, using stone-like objects (pieces of termite mound). Gorillas are therefore the second non-human lineage primate showing free-hand hitting behavior in the wild, and ours is the first report for free hand hitting behavior in wild apes. This study helps to shed light on the morphofunctional and cognitive requirements for the emergence of stone tool production as it shows that a prerequisite for free hand percussion (namely, free hand hitting) is part of the spontaneous behavioral repertoire of one of humans' closest relatives (gorillas). However, the ability to combine free hand hitting with the force, precision, and accuracy needed to facilitate conchoidal fracture in free hand percussion may still have been a critical watershed for hominin evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shelly Masi
- Eco-Anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France. .,World Wide Fund for Nature - Germany, Reinhardstrasse 18, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Emmanuelle Pouydebat
- Department Adaptations du Vivant, UMR7179 MECADEV CNRS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 55 rue Buffon, Paris, France
| | - Aurore San-Galli
- Eco-Anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France
| | - Ellen Meulman
- Eco-Anthropologie (EA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Paris Cité, Musée de l'Homme 17 place du Trocadéro, 75016, Paris, France
| | - Thomas Breuer
- Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY, 10460, USA.,World Wide Fund for Nature - Germany, Reinhardstrasse 18, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jonathan Reeves
- Department for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
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7
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De Petrillo F, Bettle R, Rosati AG. Insights from matched species comparisons for understanding cognition in the wild. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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8
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Haslam M. Insights from orangutans into the evolution of tool use. Nature 2022; 604:427-428. [PMID: 35413997 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-022-00872-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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9
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W. Schulz A. Tools of the trade: the bio-cultural evolution of the human propensity to trade. BIOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY 2022; 37:8. [PMID: 35261418 PMCID: PMC8893244 DOI: 10.1007/s10539-022-09837-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Humans are standouts in their propensity to trade. More specially, the kind of trading found in humans-featuring the exchange of many different goods and services with many different others, for the mutual benefit of all the involved parties-far exceeds anything that is found in any other creature. However, a number of important questions about this propensity remain open. First, it is not clear exactly what makes this propensity so different in the human case from that of other animals. Second, it is not clear why other animals did not acquire this propensity to the extent that humans did. Third, it is not clear what explains the fact that the extent to which humans engage in trade is culturally highly variable. The paper argues that at the heart of the human-animal divergence in this propensity is the particular socio-cultural environment in which humans evolved. This has led them to sometimes, but not always, acquire the cognitive technology (writing, algebra, tallying devices, money, etc.) to support a sophisticated disposition and capacity for reciprocal cooperation, and deep and wide concepts of property and exchange value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Armin W. Schulz
- Department of Philosophy, University of Kansas, 3101 Wescoe Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045 USA
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10
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Mangalam M, Fragaszy DM, Wagman JB, Day BM, Kelty-Stephen DG, Bongers RM, Stout DW, Osiurak F. On the psychological origins of tool use. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 134:104521. [PMID: 34998834 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The ubiquity of tool use in human life has generated multiple lines of scientific and philosophical investigation to understand the development and expression of humans' engagement with tools and its relation to other dimensions of human experience. However, existing literature on tool use faces several epistemological challenges in which the same set of questions generate many different answers. At least four critical questions can be identified, which are intimately intertwined-(1) What constitutes tool use? (2) What psychological processes underlie tool use in humans and nonhuman animals? (3) Which of these psychological processes are exclusive to tool use? (4) Which psychological processes involved in tool use are exclusive to Homo sapiens? To help advance a multidisciplinary scientific understanding of tool use, six author groups representing different academic disciplines (e.g., anthropology, psychology, neuroscience) and different theoretical perspectives respond to each of these questions, and then point to the direction of future work on tool use. We find that while there are marked differences among the responses of the respective author groups to each question, there is a surprising degree of agreement about many essential concepts and questions. We believe that this interdisciplinary and intertheoretical discussion will foster a more comprehensive understanding of tool use than any one of these perspectives (or any one of these author groups) would (or could) on their own.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madhur Mangalam
- Department of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Science, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
| | | | - Jeffrey B Wagman
- Department of Psychology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761, USA
| | - Brian M Day
- Department of Psychology, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN 46208, USA
| | | | - Raoul M Bongers
- Department of Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Dietrich W Stout
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - François Osiurak
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, Lyon 69361, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris 75231, France
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11
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The evolution of combinatoriality and compositionality in hominid tool use: a comparative perspective. INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-021-00267-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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12
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Captivity and habituation to humans raise curiosity in vervet monkeys. Anim Cogn 2021; 25:671-682. [PMID: 34855018 PMCID: PMC9107434 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01589-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The cognitive mechanisms causing intraspecific behavioural differences between wild and captive animals remain poorly understood. Although diminished neophobia, resulting from a safer environment and more “free” time, has been proposed to underlie these differences among settings, less is known about how captivity influences exploration tendency. Here, we refer to the combination of reduced neophobia and increased interest in exploring novelty as “curiosity”, which we systematically compared across seven groups of captive and wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) by exposing them to a test battery of eight novel stimuli. In the wild sample, we included both monkeys habituated to human presence and unhabituated individuals filmed using motion-triggered cameras. Results revealed clear differences in number of approaches to novel stimuli among captive, wild-habituated and wild-unhabituated monkeys. As foraging pressure and predation risks are assumed to be equal for all wild monkeys, our results do not support a relationship between curiosity and safety or free time. Instead, we propose “the habituation hypothesis” as an explanation of why well-habituated and captive monkeys both approached and explored novelty more than unhabituated individuals. We conclude that varying levels of human and/or human artefact habituation, rather than the risks present in natural environments, better explain variation in curiosity in our sample of vervet monkeys.
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13
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Palagi E, Bergman TJ. Bridging Captive and Wild Studies: Behavioral Plasticity and Social Complexity in Theropithecus gelada. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:3003. [PMID: 34680022 PMCID: PMC8532610 DOI: 10.3390/ani11103003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive ethology explores the ability of animals to flexibly adapt their behavior to rapid physical and social environment fluctuations. Although there is a historical dichotomy between field and captive studies, recently, a growing interest in questions that sit at the intersection of cognitive and adaptive perspectives has helped bridge this divide. By focusing on Theropithecus gelada, we discuss the three main reasons why this hybrid approach is extremely successful. First, captive and wild studies provide data at different social, spatial, and temporal scales that can be synthesized to give a fuller picture of the behavior. Secondly, apparently conflicting results from captive and wild settings are powerful tools to explore behavioral flexibility and latent behavioral tendencies. Third, the different settings provide ways of validating and exploring behaviors that are noticed in the other setting. Although we were able to bring together our captive and wild research to demonstrate these ideas, we could have obtained a more integrated vision on the proximate and ultimate gelada behavioral and cognitive strategies if we had considered this hybrid approach from the beginning. We hope that this manuscript stimulates scholars in designing their studies by taking into account the incredible potential of a complementary captive-wild research approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Palagi
- Unit of Ethology, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Alessandro Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy
- Natural History Museum, University of Pisa, Via Roma 79, Calci, 56011 Pisa, Italy
| | - Thore J. Bergman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 4054 East Hall 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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14
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Motes-Rodrigo A, Tennie C. Captive great apes tend to innovate simple tool behaviors quickly. Am J Primatol 2021; 84:e23311. [PMID: 34339543 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies have highlighted the important role that individual learning mechanisms and different forms of enhancenment play in the acquisition of novel behaviors by naïve individuals. A considerable subset of these studies has focused on tool innovation by our closest living relatives, the great apes, to better undestand the evolution of technology in our own lineage. To be able to isolate the role that individual learning plays in great ape tool innovation, researchers usually employ what are known as baseline tests. Although these baselines are commonly used in behavioral studies in captivity, the length of these tests in terms of number of trials and duration remains unstandarized across studies. To address this methodological issue, we conducted a literature review of great ape tool innovation studies conducted in zoological institutions and compiled various methodological data including the timing of innovation. Our literature review revealed an early innovation tendency in great apes, which was particularly pronounced when simple forms of tool use were investigated. In the majority of experiments where tool innovation took place, this occurred within the first trial and/or the first hour of testing. We discuss different possible sources of variation in the latency to innovate such as testing setup, species and task. We hope that our literature review helps researchers design more data-informed, resource-efficient experiments on tool innovation in our closest living relatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Motes-Rodrigo
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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15
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Colbourne JAD, Auersperg AMI, Lambert ML, Huber L, Völter CJ. Extending the Reach of Tooling Theory: A Neurocognitive and Phylogenetic Perspective. Top Cogn Sci 2021; 13:548-572. [PMID: 34165917 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Tool use research has suffered from a lack of consistent theoretical frameworks. There is a plethora of tool use definitions and the most widespread ones are so inclusive that the behaviors that fall under them arguably do not have much in common. The situation is aggravated by the prevalence of anecdotes, which have played an undue role in the literature. In order to provide a more rigorous foundation for research and to advance our understanding of the interrelation between tool use and cognition, we suggest the adoption of Fragaszy and Mangalam's (2018) tooling framework, which is characterized by the creation of a body-plus-object system that manages a mechanical interface between tool and surface. Tooling is limited to a narrower suite of behaviors than tool use, which might facilitate its neurocognitive investigation. Indeed, evidence in the literature indicates that tooling has distinct neurocognitive underpinnings not shared by other activities typically classified as tool use, at least in primates. In order to understand the extent of tooling incidences in previous research, we systematically surveyed the comprehensive tool use catalog by Shumaker et al. (2011). We identified 201 tool use submodes, of which only 81 could be classified as tooling, and the majority of the tool use examples across species were poorly supported by evidence. Furthermore, tooling appears to be phylogenetically less widespread than tool use, with the greatest variability found in the primate order. However, in order to confirm these findings and to understand the evolution and neurocognitive mechanisms of tooling, more systematic research will be required in the future, particularly with currently underrepresented taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A D Colbourne
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna
| | - Alice M I Auersperg
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna
| | - Megan L Lambert
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna
| | - Ludwig Huber
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna
| | - Christoph J Völter
- Comparative Cognition Unit, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, University of Vienna, Medical University of Vienna
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16
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Yan Z. The origins of children's understanding of technologies: A focused rapid review of three approaches. HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/hbe2.269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Yan
- Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology University at Albany Albany New York USA
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17
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Mucury Filho R, Camargo MR, Mendes FDC. Male-Directed Object Use by Proceptive Female Bearded Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) in Captivity. INT J PRIMATOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-020-00195-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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18
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Nagano A. Behavioral task to assess physical causal understanding in rats (Rattus norvegicus). CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-020-01315-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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19
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Toddlers, Tools, and Tech: The Cognitive Ontogenesis of Innovation. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 25:81-92. [PMID: 33223481 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 10/18/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
The development of tool innovation presents a paradox. How do humans have such diverse and complex technology, ranging from smartphones to aircraft, and yet young children find even simple tool innovation challenges, such as fashioning a hook to retrieve a basket from a tube, remarkably difficult? We propose that the solution to this paradox is the cognitive ontogenesis of tool innovation. Using a common measure of children's tool innovation, we describe how multiple cognitive mechanisms work in concert at each step of its process: recognizing the problem, generating appropriate solutions, and the social transmission of innovations. We discuss what the ontogeny of this skill tells us about cognitive and cultural evolution and provide recommendations for future research.
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20
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Bandini E, Tennie C. Exploring the role of individual learning in animal tool-use. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9877. [PMID: 33033659 PMCID: PMC7521350 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Bandini
- Department of Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Department of Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Using an Innovation Arena to compare wild-caught and laboratory Goffin's cockatoos. Sci Rep 2020; 10:8681. [PMID: 32457402 PMCID: PMC7250841 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65223-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to innovate, i.e., to exhibit new or modified learned behaviours, can facilitate adaptation to environmental changes or exploiting novel resources. We hereby introduce a comparative approach for studying innovation rate, the ‘Innovation Arena’ (IA), featuring the simultaneous presentation of 20 interchangeable tasks, which subjects encounter repeatedly. The new design allows for the experimental study of innovation per time unit and for uncovering group-specific problem-solving abilities – an important feature for comparing animals with different predispositions and life histories. We applied the IA for the first time to investigate how long-term captivity affects innovative capacities in the Goffin’s cockatoo, an avian model species for animal innovation. We found that fewer temporarily-captive wild birds are inclined to consistently interact with the apparatus in comparison to laboratory-raised birds. However, those that are interested solve a similar number of tasks at a similar rate, indicating no difference in the cognitive ability to solve technical problems. Our findings thus provide a contrast to previous literature, which suggested enhanced cognitive abilities and technical problem-solving skills in long-term captive animals. We discuss the impact and discrepancy between motivation and cognitive ability on innovation rate. Our findings contribute to the debate on how captivity affects innovation in animals.
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Bandini E, Harrison RA. Innovation in chimpanzees. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 95:1167-1197. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Revised: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Bandini
- Department for Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology The University of Tübingen Tübingen Germany
| | - Rachel A. Harrison
- Department of Ecology and Evolution University of Lausanne Lausanne Switzerland
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Martina C, Cowlishaw G, Carter AJ. Exploring individual variation in associative learning abilities through an operant conditioning task in wild baboons. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0230810. [PMID: 32251443 PMCID: PMC7135308 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 03/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive abilities underpin many of the behavioural decisions of animals. However, we still have very little understanding of how and why cognitive abilities vary between individuals of the same species in wild populations. In this study, we assessed the associative learning abilities of wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) across two troops in Namibia with a simple operant conditioning task. We evaluated the ability of individuals to correctly associate a particular colour of corn kernels with a distasteful flavour through repeated presentations of two small piles of corn dyed different colours, one of which had been treated with a non-toxic bitter substance. We also assessed whether individual variation in learning ability was associated with particular phenotypic traits (sex, social rank and neophilia) and states (age and prior vigilance). We found no evidence of learning the association either within each trial or across trials, nor any variation based on individuals' phenotypes. This appeared to be due to a high tolerance for bitter foods leading to similar acceptance of both palatable and unpalatable kernels. Earlier avoidance of the bitter kernels during pilot trials suggests this higher tolerance may have been largely driven by a drought during the experiments. Overall, our findings highlight the potential influence of current environmental challenges associated with conducting cognitive tests of animals in the wild.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Martina
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
- The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, England, United Kingdom
| | - Guy Cowlishaw
- The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, England, United Kingdom
| | - Alecia J. Carter
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
- The Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, England, United Kingdom
- ISEM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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Increased terrestriality in a Neotropical primate living on islands with reduced predation risk. J Hum Evol 2020; 143:102768. [PMID: 32247060 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 01/27/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
An arboreal lifestyle is thought to be central to primate origins, and most extant primate species still live in the trees. Nonetheless, terrestrial locomotion is a widespread adaptation that has arisen repeatedly within the primate lineage. The absence of terrestriality among the New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) is thus notable and raises questions about the ecological pressures that constrain the expansion of platyrrhines into terrestrial niches. Here, we report the results of a natural experiment, comparing patterns of terrestrial behavior in white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus imitator) living on two islands off the Pacific coast of Panama that lack mammalian predators (island sites) with the behavior of capuchins at three sites in central Panama with more intact predator communities (mainland sites). Surveys with camera traps revealed increased terrestriality in island vs. mainland sites. Capuchin detection rates were higher, the range of party sizes observed was larger, and individuals engaged in a wider range of terrestrial behaviors on the islands lacking mammalian predators. Furthermore, females carrying infants were frequently photographed on the ground at the island sites, but never at the mainland sites. These findings support the long-standing hypothesis that predators constrain the exploitation of terrestrial niches by primates. These results are also consistent with the hypothesis that arboreal locomotion imposes costs that primates will avoid by walking on the ground when predation risk is low.
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Janmaat KRL. What animals do not do or fail to find: A novel observational approach for studying cognition in the wild. Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:303-320. [PMID: 31418959 PMCID: PMC6916178 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2017] [Revised: 06/17/2019] [Accepted: 07/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
To understand how our brain evolved and what it is for, we are in urgent need of knowledge about the cognitive skills of a large variety of animal species and individuals, and their relationships to rapidly disappearing social and ecological conditions. But how do we obtain this knowledge? Studying cognition in the wild is a challenge. Field researchers (and their study subjects) face many factors that can easily interfere with their variables of interest. Although field studies of cognition present unique challenges, they are still invaluable for understanding the evolutionary drivers of cognition. In this review, I discuss the advantages and urgency of field-based studies on animal cognition and introduce a novel observational approach for field research that is guided by three questions: (a) what do animals fail to find?, (b) what do they not do?, and (c) what do they only do when certain conditions are met? My goal is to provide guidance to future field researchers examining primate cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karline R. L. Janmaat
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyLeipzigGermany
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem DynamicsUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamThe Netherlands
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Root-Bernstein M, Narayan T, Cornier L, Bourgeois A. Context-specific tool use by Sus cebifrons. Mamm Biol 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mambio.2019.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Motes-Rodrigo A, Majlesi P, Pickering TR, Laska M, Axelsen H, Minchin TC, Tennie C, Hernandez-Aguilar RA. Chimpanzee extractive foraging with excavating tools: Experimental modeling of the origins of human technology. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0215644. [PMID: 31091268 PMCID: PMC6519788 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2018] [Accepted: 04/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
It is hypothesized that tool-assisted excavation of plant underground storage organs (USOs) played an adaptive role in hominin evolution and was also once considered a uniquely human behavior. Recent data indicate that savanna chimpanzees also use tools to excavate edible USOs. However, those chimpanzees remain largely unhabituated and we lack direct observations of this behavior in the wild. To fill this gap in our knowledge of hominoid USO extractive foraging, we conducted tool-mediated excavation experiments with captive chimpanzees naïve to this behavior. We presented the chimpanzees with the opportunity to use tools in order to excavate artificially-placed underground foods in their naturally forested outdoor enclosure. No guidance or demonstration was given to the chimpanzees at any time. The chimpanzees used tools spontaneously in order to excavate the underground foods. They exhibited six different tool use behaviors in the context of excavation: probe, perforate, dig, pound, enlarge and shovel. However, they still excavated manually more often than they did with tools. Chimpanzees were selective in their choice of tools that we provided, preferring longer tools for excavation. They also obtained their own tools mainly from naturally occurring vegetation and transported them to the excavation site. They reused some tools throughout the study. Our new data provide a direction for the study of variables relevant to modeling USO extractive foraging by early hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Motes-Rodrigo
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Parandis Majlesi
- Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Travis Rayne Pickering
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States of America
- Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section, Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History (Transvaal Museum), Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Matthias Laska
- Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | | | | | - Claudio Tennie
- Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Fredrika Forss SI, Motes-Rodrigo A, Tennie C. Animal Behavior: Ape Curiosity on Camera. Curr Biol 2019; 29:R255-R257. [PMID: 30939310 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
How animals respond to novel objects may reflect their overall cognitive and behavioral disposition. A study using camera traps reveals that different species of wild ape respond to novelty differently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Ingrid Fredrika Forss
- Faculty of Science, Department for early prehistory and quaternary ecology, University of Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Alba Motes-Rodrigo
- Faculty of Science, Department for early prehistory and quaternary ecology, University of Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claudio Tennie
- Faculty of Science, Department for early prehistory and quaternary ecology, University of Tübingen, Germany
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O’Hara M, Mioduszewska B, Haryoko T, Prawiradilaga D, Huber L, Auersperg A. Extraction without tooling around — The first comprehensive description of the foraging- and socio-ecology of wild Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana). BEHAVIOUR 2019. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-00003523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
When tested under laboratory conditions, Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) demonstrate numerous sophisticated cognitive skills. Most importantly, this species has shown the ability to manufacture and use tools. However, little is known about the ecology of these cockatoos, endemic to the Tanimbar Islands in Indonesia. Here we provide first insights into the feeding- and socio-ecology of the wild Goffin’s cockatoos and propose potential links between their behaviour in natural settings and their advanced problem-solving capacities shown in captivity. Observational data suggests that Goffin’s cockatoos rely on a large variety of partially seasonal resources. Furthermore, several food types require different extraction techniques. These ecological and behavioural characteristics fall in line with current hypotheses regarding the evolution of complex cognition and innovativeness. We discuss how the efficiency of (extractive) foraging may preclude tool use in wild Goffin’s cockatoos, even though the corresponding cognitive and ecological prerequisites seem to be present.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. O’Hara
- aComparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - B. Mioduszewska
- aComparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
- bMax Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
| | - T. Haryoko
- cResearch Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jl. Raya Jakarta - Bogor Km.46 Cibinong 16911 Bogor, Indonesia
| | - D.M. Prawiradilaga
- cResearch Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jl. Raya Jakarta - Bogor Km.46 Cibinong 16911 Bogor, Indonesia
| | - L. Huber
- aComparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
| | - A. Auersperg
- aComparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University Vienna, University of Vienna, Veterinaerplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria
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Goodman M, Hayward T, Hunt GR. Habitual tool use innovated by free-living New Zealand kea. Sci Rep 2018; 8:13935. [PMID: 30224791 PMCID: PMC6141560 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-32363-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2018] [Accepted: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergence of flexible tool use is rare in the animal kingdom and thought to be largely constrained by either cognitive ability or ecological factors. That mostly birds with a high level of intelligence innovate tool use in captivity is consistent with the former hypothesis. We report here the first documented case of habitual tool use innovated in the wild by a bird species only known to have used tools in captivity. Trap-boxes containing food-bait and snap-trap(s) were installed in the remote Murchison Mountains, New Zealand, from 2002 to catch introduced stoats. Kea tampered with the trap-boxes in various ways. Over approximately 2.5 years, sticks were found inserted into at least 227 different trap-boxes that were up to 27 km apart. Video footage confirmed that the stick insertion was kea tool use. Trap-boxes are unlikely to have provided the only possibility for kea tool use in their habitat given their extractive foraging and skilled object manipulation. We argue that they instead greatly facilitated the opportunity for tool use, thus increasing the chance that kea would invent the behaviour. The innovation of tool use by kea in response to facilitation provides rare field support for the cognitive constraints hypothesis.
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Abstract
Since the Industrial Revolution, human societies have experienced high and sustained rates of economic growth. Recent explanations of this sudden and massive change in economic history have held that modern growth results from an acceleration of innovation. But it is unclear why the rate of innovation drastically accelerated in England in the eighteenth century. An important factor might be the alteration of individual preferences with regard to innovation resulting from the unprecedented living standards of the English during that period, for two reasons. First, recent developments in economic history challenge the standard Malthusian view according to which living standards were stagnant until the Industrial Revolution. Pre-industrial England enjoyed a level of affluence that was unprecedented in history. Second, behavioral sciences have demonstrated that the human brain is designed to respond adaptively to variations in resources in the local environment. In particular, Life History Theory, a branch of evolutionary biology, suggests that a more favorable environment (high resources, low mortality) should trigger the expression of future-oriented preferences. In this paper, I argue that some of these psychological traits - a lower level of time discounting, a higher level of optimism, decreased materialistic orientation, and a higher level of trust in others - are likely to increase the rate of innovation. I review the evidence regarding the impact of affluence on preferences in contemporary as well as past populations, and conclude that the impact of affluence on neurocognitive systems may partly explain the modern acceleration of technological innovations and the associated economic growth.
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The interplay between psychological predispositions and skill learning in the evolution of tool use. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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Proffitt T, Luncz VL, Malaivijitnond S, Gumert M, Svensson MS, Haslam M. Analysis of wild macaque stone tools used to crack oil palm nuts. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:171904. [PMID: 29657792 PMCID: PMC5882716 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2017] [Accepted: 02/15/2018] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The discovery of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) nut-cracking by wild long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) is significant for the study of non-human primate and hominin percussive behaviour. Up until now, only West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and modern human populations were known to use stone hammers to crack open this particular hard-shelled palm nut. The addition of non-habituated, wild macaques increases our comparative dataset of primate lithic percussive behaviour focused on this one plant species. Here, we present an initial description of hammerstones used by macaques to crack oil palm nuts, recovered from active nut-cracking locations on Yao Noi Island, Ao Phang Nga National Park, Thailand. We combine a techno-typological approach with microscopic and macroscopic use-wear analysis of percussive damage to characterize the percussive signature of macaque palm oil nut-cracking tools. These artefacts are characterized by a high degree of battering and crushing on most surfaces, which is visible at both macro and microscopic levels. The degree and extent of this damage is a consequence of a dynamic interplay between a number of factors, including anvil morphology and macaque percussive techniques. Beyond the behavioural importance of these artefacts, macaque nut-cracking represents a new target for primate archaeological investigations, and opens new opportunities for comparisons between tool using primate species and with early hominin percussive behaviour, for which nut-cracking has been frequently inferred.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. Proffitt
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK
| | - V. L. Luncz
- Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PN, UK
| | - S. Malaivijitnond
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
- National Primate Research Centre of Thailand, Chulalongkorn University, Saraburi, Thailand
| | - M. Gumert
- School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637332, Singapore
| | - M. S. Svensson
- Department of Social Science, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
| | - M. Haslam
- School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK
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Liu MJ, Xiong CH, Hu D. Assessing the manipulative potentials of monkeys, apes and humans from hand proportions: implications for hand evolution. Proc Biol Sci 2017; 283:rspb.2016.1923. [PMID: 27903877 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.1923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 10/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The hand structure possesses a greater potential for performing manipulative skills than is typically observed, whether in humans or non-human anthropoids. However, a precise assessment of the potential manipulative skills of hands has been challenging, which hampers our understanding of the evolution of manipulative abilities in anthropoid hands. Here, we establish a functional model to quantitatively infer the manipulative potentials of anthropoid hands based on hand proportions. Our results reveal a large disparity of manipulative potentials among anthropoid hands. From the aspect of hand proportions, the human hand has the best manipulative potential among anthropoids. However, the species with a manipulative potential closer to that of humans are not our nearest relatives, chimpanzees, but rather, are certain monkey species. In combination with the phylogenetically informed morphometric analyses, our results suggest that the morphological changes of non-human anthropoid hands did not coevolve with the brain to facilitate the manipulative ability during the evolutionary process, although the manipulative ability is a survival skill. The changes in non-human anthropoid hands may have more likely evolved under selective pressure for locomotion than manipulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming-Jin Liu
- Institute of Rehabilitation and Medical Robotics, State Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
| | - Cai-Hua Xiong
- Institute of Rehabilitation and Medical Robotics, State Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
| | - Di Hu
- Institute of Rehabilitation and Medical Robotics, State Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, People's Republic of China
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Tennie C, Premo LS, Braun DR, McPherron SP. Early Stone Tools and Cultural Transmission: Resetting the Null Hypothesis. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.1086/693846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Haslam M, Hernandez-Aguilar RA, Proffitt T, Arroyo A, Falótico T, Fragaszy D, Gumert M, Harris JWK, Huffman MA, Kalan AK, Malaivijitnond S, Matsuzawa T, McGrew W, Ottoni EB, Pascual-Garrido A, Piel A, Pruetz J, Schuppli C, Stewart F, Tan A, Visalberghi E, Luncz LV. Primate archaeology evolves. Nat Ecol Evol 2017; 1:1431-1437. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0286-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2017] [Accepted: 07/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Forss SIF, Koski SE, van Schaik CP. Explaining the Paradox of Neophobic Explorers: The Social Information Hypothesis. INT J PRIMATOL 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-017-9984-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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39
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Burn CC. Bestial boredom: a biological perspective on animal boredom and suggestions for its scientific investigation. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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40
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Waroff AJ, Fanucchi L, Robbins CT, Nelson OL. Tool use, problem-solving, and the display of stereotypic behaviors in the brown bear (Ursus arctos). J Vet Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2016.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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How Insightful Is 'Insight'? New Caledonian Crows Do Not Attend to Object Weight during Spontaneous Stone Dropping. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0167419. [PMID: 27973610 PMCID: PMC5156351 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167419] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2016] [Accepted: 11/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
It is highly difficult to pinpoint what is going through an animal’s mind when it appears to solve a problem by ‘insight’. Here, we searched for an information processing error during the emergence of seemingly insightful stone dropping in New Caledonian crows. We presented these birds with the platform apparatus, where a heavy object needs to be dropped down a tube and onto a platform in order to trigger the release of food. Our results show New Caledonian crows exhibit a weight inattention error: they do not attend to the weight of an object when innovating stone dropping. This suggests that these crows do not use an understanding of force when solving the platform task in a seemingly insightful manner. Our findings showcase the power of the signature-testing approach, where experiments search for information processing biases, errors and limits, in order to make strong inferences about the functioning of animal minds.
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Griffin AS. Innovativeness as an emergent property: a new alignment of comparative and experimental research on animal innovation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:rstb.2015.0544. [PMID: 26926287 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Innovation and creativity are key defining features of human societies. As we face the global challenges of the twenty-first century, they are also facets upon which we must become increasingly reliant. But what makes Homo sapiens so innovative and where does our high innovation propensity come from? Comparative research on innovativeness in non-human animals allows us to peer back through evolutionary time and investigate the ecological factors that drove the evolution of innovativeness, whereas experimental research identifies and manipulates underpinning creative processes. In commenting on the present theme issue, I highlight the controversies that have typified this research field and show how a paradigmatic shift in our thinking about innovativeness will contribute to resolving these tensions. In the past decade, innovativeness has been considered by many as a trait, a direct product of cognition, and a direct target of selection. The evidence I review here suggests that innovativeness will be hereon viewed as one component, or even an emergent property of a larger array of traits, which have evolved to deal with environmental variation. I illustrate how research should capitalize on taxonomic diversity to unravel the full range of psychological processes that underpin innovativeness in non-human animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea S Griffin
- School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, 2308 New South Wales, Australia
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van Schaik CP, Burkart J, Damerius L, Forss SIF, Koops K, van Noordwijk MA, Schuppli C. The reluctant innovator: orangutans and the phylogeny of creativity. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150183. [PMID: 26926274 PMCID: PMC4780526 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Young orangutans are highly neophobic, avoid independent exploration and show a preference for social learning. Accordingly, they acquire virtually all their learned skills through exploration that is socially induced. Adult exploration rates are also low. Comparisons strongly suggest that major innovations, i.e. behaviours that have originally been brought into the population through individual invention, are made where ecological opportunities to do so are propitious. Most populations nonetheless have large innovation repertoires, because innovations, once made, are retained well through social transmission. Wild orangutans are therefore not innovative. In striking contrast, zoo-living orangutans actively seek novelty and are highly exploratory and innovative, probably because of positive reinforcement, active encouragement by human role models, increased sociality and an expectation of safety. The explanation for this contrast most relevant to hominin evolution is that captive apes generally have a highly reduced cognitive load, in particular owing to the absence of predation risk, which strongly reduces the costs of exploration. If the orangutan results generalize to other great apes, this suggests that our ancestors could have become more curious once they had achieved near-immunity to predation on the eve of the explosive increase in creativity characterizing the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- C P van Schaik
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - J Burkart
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - L Damerius
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - S I F Forss
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - K Koops
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - M A van Noordwijk
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - C Schuppli
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
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Camargo MR, Mendes FDC. Indução do Uso de Ferramentas como Enriquecimento Ambiental para Macacos-prego (Sapajus libidinosus) Cativos. PSICOLOGIA: TEORIA E PESQUISA 2016. [DOI: 10.1590/0102-3772e32ne21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
RESUMO Testamos o efeito de um aparato que pudesse induzir o uso de ferramentas no comportamento de seis macacos-prego cativos. Utilizamos “animal focal” para o tempo gasto em estados comportamentais gerais e estados indicativos de estresse, concomitantemente com “todas as ocorrências” de eventos agonísticos e de comportamentos estereotipados. O grupo mostrou perfis de orçamento de atividades diversificados, com respostas variadas aos fatores estressantes a que estavam expostos. Alguns indivíduos reduziram alguns comportamentos indicativos de estresse, porém não houve variação significativa para o grupo. Conclui-se que o aparato não foi eficiente, mostrando suas limitações como medida de enriquecimento para a espécie. Em razão dos efeitos individuais, sugerimos, no entanto, que a técnica possa ser eficaz em grupos específicos ou condições muito estressantes.
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Roffman I, Savage-Rumbaugh S, Rubert-Pugh E, Stadler A, Ronen A, Nevo E. Preparation and use of varied natural tools for extractive foraging by bonobos (Pan Paniscus). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2015; 158:78-91. [PMID: 26119360 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2014] [Revised: 04/16/2015] [Accepted: 05/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The tool-assisted extractive foraging capabilities of captive (zoo) and semi-captive (sanctuary) bonobo (Pan paniscus) groups were compared to each other and to those known in wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) cultures. MATERIALS AND METHODS The bonobos were provided with natural raw materials and challenged with tasks not previously encountered, in experimental settings simulating natural contexts where resources requiring special retrieval efforts were hidden. They were shown that food was buried underground or inserted into long bone cavities, and left to tackle the tasks without further intervention. RESULTS The bonobos used modified branches and unmodified antlers or stones to dig under rocks and in the ground or to break bones to retrieve the food. Antlers, short sticks, long sticks, and rocks were effectively used as mattocks, daggers, levers, and shovels, respectively. One bonobo successively struck a long bone with an angular hammer stone, completely bisecting it longitudinally. Another bonobo modified long branches into spears and used them as attack weapons and barriers. Bonobos in the sanctuary, unlike those in the zoo, used tool sets to perform sequential actions. DISCUSSION The competent and diverse tool-assisted extractive foraging by the bonobos corroborates and complements the extensive information on similar tool use by chimpanzees, suggesting that such competence is a shared trait. Better performance by the sanctuary bonobos than the zoo group was probably due to differences in their cultural exposure and housing conditions. The bonobos' foraging techniques resembled some of those attributed to Oldowan hominins, implying that they can serve as referential models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Itai Roffman
- International Graduate Center of Evolution, Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | | | | | | | - Avraham Ronen
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Eviatar Nevo
- International Graduate Center of Evolution, Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
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Forss SIF, Schuppli C, Haiden D, Zweifel N, van Schaik CP. Contrasting responses to novelty by wild and captive orangutans. Am J Primatol 2015; 77:1109-21. [PMID: 26119509 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2015] [Revised: 05/18/2015] [Accepted: 06/16/2015] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Several studies have suggested that wild primates tend to behave with caution toward novelty, whereas captive primates are thought to be less neophobic, more exploratory, and more innovative. However, few studies have systematically compared captive and wild individuals of the same species to document this "captivity effect" in greater detail. Here we report the responses of both wild and captive orangutans to the same novel items. Novel objects were presented to wild orangutans on multiple platforms placed in the canopy and equipped with motion-triggered video cameras. The same and different novel objects were also presented to orangutans in two different zoos. The results demonstrate extreme conservatism in both Bornean and Sumatran wild orangutans, who gradually approached the novel objects more closely as they became familiar, but avoided contact with them over many encounters spanning several months. Their zoo-living conspecifics, in contrast, showed an immediate neophilic response. Our results thus confirm the "captivity effect." To the various ecological explanations proposed before (reduced risk and increased time and energy balance for captive individuals relative to wild ones), we add the social information hypothesis, which claims that individuals confronted with novel items preferentially rely on social cues whenever possible. This caution toward novelty disappears when human caretakers become additional role models and can also be eroded when all experience with novelty is positive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia I F Forss
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Caroline Schuppli
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Dominique Haiden
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Nicole Zweifel
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Carel P van Schaik
- Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
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Nasal probe and toothpick tool use by a wild female bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus). Primates 2015; 56:211-4. [PMID: 25864187 PMCID: PMC4477721 DOI: 10.1007/s10329-015-0470-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2015] [Accepted: 03/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
We report the first observation of probe tool use by a wild adult female bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidniosus), at Serra da Capivara National Park (SCNP), Brazil. This individual used several stick tools and one grass stem to probe her nostrils, usually triggering a sneeze reaction, and also used stick tools to probe her teeth or gum. Both of these behaviours were accompanied by inspection and licking of the tool following use. We have termed these self-directed actions nasal probe and toothpick, and neither has been previously reported in wild capuchins. While stick tool use is common among foraging male capuchins at SCNP, the novel and at present idiosyncratic activities performed by the female monkey add to the known behavioural repertoire for this species.
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Mendes FDC, Cardoso RM, Ottoni EB, Izar P, Villar DNA, Marquezan RF. Diversity of nutcracking tool sites used bySapajus libidinosusin BrazilianCerrado. Am J Primatol 2015; 77:535-46. [DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2014] [Revised: 12/03/2014] [Accepted: 12/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Francisco Dyonísio C. Mendes
- Departamento de Processos Psicológicos Básicos; Universidade de Brasília; Brasília Brazil
- Departamento de Psicologia; Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás; Goiânia Brazil
| | - Raphael Moura Cardoso
- Departamento de Psicologia; Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás; Goiânia Brazil
- Departamento de Psicologia Experimental; Universidade de São Paulo; São Paulo Brazil
| | - Eduardo B. Ottoni
- Departamento de Psicologia Experimental; Universidade de São Paulo; São Paulo Brazil
| | - Patrícia Izar
- Departamento de Psicologia Experimental; Universidade de São Paulo; São Paulo Brazil
| | | | - Rogério F. Marquezan
- Departamento de Psicologia; Centro Universitário UNIRG; Gurupi Brazil
- Departamento de Medicina; Universidade Federal do Tocantins; Palmas Brazil
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Riehl C, Strong MJ, Edwards SV. Inferential reasoning and egg rejection in a cooperatively breeding cuckoo. Anim Cogn 2014; 18:75-82. [PMID: 24993064 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-014-0778-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2014] [Revised: 05/06/2014] [Accepted: 06/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Inferential reasoning-associating a visible consequence with an imagined event-has been demonstrated in several bird species in captivity, but few studies have tested wild birds in ecologically relevant contexts. Here, we investigate inferential reasoning by the greater ani, a cooperatively breeding cuckoo in which several females lay eggs in one nest. Prior to laying her first egg, each female removes any eggs that have already been laid by other females in the shared nest. After laying her first egg, however, each female stops removing eggs, presumably in order to avoid accidentally rejecting her own. But are anis using inferential reasoning to track the fate of their eggs in the communal nest, or is egg ejection governed by non-cognitive determinants? We experimentally removed eggs from two-female nests after both females had laid at least one egg and used video recording to verify that both females viewed the empty nest. We waited until one female (A) laid an egg in the nest, and video recorded the behavior of the female that had not yet re-laid (B). We predicted that if capable of inferential reasoning, female B should infer that the new egg could not be her own and she should remove it. Five out of five females tested failed to make this inference, suggesting that egg removal is either determined by the female's reproductive status or by the amount of time elapsed between egg removal and re-laying. This apparent cognitive constraint may have implications for the evolutionary stability of the anis' unusual breeding system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Riehl
- Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA,
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Haslam M. On the tool use behavior of the bonobo-chimpanzee last common ancestor, and the origins of hominine stone tool use. Am J Primatol 2014; 76:910-8. [PMID: 24710771 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2013] [Revised: 03/04/2014] [Accepted: 03/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The last common ancestor (LCA) shared by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (P. paniscus) was an Early Pleistocene African ape, which, based on the behavior of modern chimpanzees, may be assumed to be a tool-using animal. However, the character of tool use in the Pan lineage prior to the 20th century is largely unknown. Here, I use available data on wild bonobo tool use and emerging molecular estimates of demography during Pan evolution to hypothesise the plausible tool use behavior of the bonobo-chimpanzee LCA (or "Pancestor") at the start of the Pleistocene, over 2 million years ago. This method indicates that the common ancestor of living Pan apes likely used plant tools for probing, sponging, and display, but it did not use stone tools. Instead, stone tool use appears to have been independently invented by Western African chimpanzees (P. t. verus) during the Middle Pleistocene in the region of modern Liberia-Ivory Coast-Guinea, possibly as recently as 200,000-150,000 years ago. If this is the case, then the LCA of humans and chimpanzees likely also did not use stone tools, and this trait probably first emerged among hominins in Pliocene East Africa. This review also suggests that the consistently higher population sizes of Central African chimpanzees (P. t. troglodytes) over the past million years may have contributed to the increased complexity of wild tool use seen in this sub-species today.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Haslam
- Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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