Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Towards a biology of traditions
- 2 What the models say about social learning
- 3 Relative brain size and the distribution of innovation and social learning across the nonhuman primates
- 4 Social learning about food in birds
- 5 The cue reliability approach to social transmission: designing tests for adaptive traditions
- 6 “Traditional” foraging behaviors of brown and black rats (Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus)
- 7 Food for thought: social learning about food in feeding capuchin monkeys
- 8 Traditions in mammalian and avian vocal communication
- 9 Like mother, like calf: the ontogeny of foraging traditions in wild Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.)
- 10 Biological and ecological foundations of primate behavioral tradition
- 11 Local traditions in orangutans and chimpanzees: social learning and social tolerance
- 12 Developmental perspectives on great ape traditions
- 13 Do brown capuchins socially learn foraging skills?
- 14 Traditions in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys
- 15 Conclusions and research agendas
- Further reading
- Index
- References
15 - Conclusions and research agendas
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Towards a biology of traditions
- 2 What the models say about social learning
- 3 Relative brain size and the distribution of innovation and social learning across the nonhuman primates
- 4 Social learning about food in birds
- 5 The cue reliability approach to social transmission: designing tests for adaptive traditions
- 6 “Traditional” foraging behaviors of brown and black rats (Rattus norvegicus and Rattus rattus)
- 7 Food for thought: social learning about food in feeding capuchin monkeys
- 8 Traditions in mammalian and avian vocal communication
- 9 Like mother, like calf: the ontogeny of foraging traditions in wild Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.)
- 10 Biological and ecological foundations of primate behavioral tradition
- 11 Local traditions in orangutans and chimpanzees: social learning and social tolerance
- 12 Developmental perspectives on great ape traditions
- 13 Do brown capuchins socially learn foraging skills?
- 14 Traditions in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys
- 15 Conclusions and research agendas
- Further reading
- Index
- References
Summary
Current state of knowledge regarding the biology of traditions
What is the biological importance of social learning and traditions to the animals?
Recently, biologists have become aware that social learning may play a pivotal role in the behavioral biology and evolution of many animal species. Animals may alter their environments in such a way that they create new selective pressures for the next generation; in other words, they take an active role in shaping the environments that determine the course of their species' evolution (Avital and Jablonka, 2000; Laland, Odling-Smee and Feldman, 2000; Pulliam, 2000; see Ch. 12 for examples of ways in which nonhuman primates may construct their niches). Nevertheless, there are astonishingly few data, particularly from the field, regarding the prevalence of traditions in nature and the fitness consequences of engaging in social learning or practicing particular traditions. Consequently, modelers continue to rely heavily on thought experiments and hypothetical examples to convince readers of the logic of their arguments (e.g., Avital and Jablonka, 2000). Currently, there are very few species and behavioral domains for which the topic of traditions has been thoroughly addressed (i.e., with adequate methodology to assess the role of social learning) in the wild, and we know little about the biological importance of social learning in nature. There are, no doubt, taxonomic biases regarding which species and topics have been targeted for study (e.g., biologists regularly look for tool use in primates and vocal traditions in birds).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Biology of TraditionsModels and Evidence, pp. 426 - 440Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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