Biology subjects

Tennie, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Tennie, C..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

An investigation of social learning of tool-use in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) using a ball-up / ball-down task

Whether and how dolphins can engage in spontaneous, untrained social learning to solve novel tool problems via action- or result- (or other) social learning remains debated. In the present study we tested the spontaneous social learning abilities of six dolphins (all not trained to copy) on two tool-using tasks (what we call the ball-up / ball-down task) - using a dolphin demonstrator and a human demonstrator. Regardless of task type and demonstrator type none of the tested dolphins reproduced the demonstrated tool solutions. We experienced several issues regarding our test apparatus, and so these negative results may be due to apparatus failures. However, these findings may also fully or partially indicate that untrained dolphins are not generalized, spontaneous social learners across information types, especially regarding the acquisition of tool solutions in puzzle tasks. More studies are required to precisely determine the capacity for spontaneous tool solution copying in dolphins.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2025

Third-party imitation is not restricted to humans

Imitation of cultural practices is ubiquitous in humans and often involves faithful copying of intransitive (i.e., non-object directed) gestures and societal norms which play a crucial role in human cultural evolution. Apart from learning these directly from a tutor, humans often learn passively as third-party observers from the interactions of two or more individuals. Whether third-party imitation has evolved outside humans remains unknown. In the current study, we investigated whether undomesticated blue-throated macaws could imitate in a third-party setting. A naive test group (N=6) passively observed a conspecific demonstrator performing improbable intransitive actions in response to specific human gestural commands. Directly afterwards, the observer received the same gestural commands and performance-contingent rewards. An equally naive control group (N=5) was tested correspondingly, in the absence of third-party demonstrations. The test group learned more target actions (mean=4.16 versus mean=2.2) in response to the specific commands, significantly faster and performed them more accurately than the control group. The test group also spontaneously imitated some of the actions even before they received any gestural commands or rewards. Our findings show that third-party imitation, even for intransitive actions, exists outside humans, allowing for rapid adaption to group specific behaviours and possibly cultural conventions in parrots.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

A candidate culture-dependent form in apes, nut-cracking, can be individually learnt by naive orangutans (Pongo abelii)

Nut-cracking using hammer tools has been argued to be one of the most complex tool-use behaviours observed in non-human animals (henceforth: animals). Recently, even the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) recognised the unique nature of chimpanzee nut-cracking by making it the first animal behaviour to be awarded UN-protected status (Picheta, 2020). So far, only chimpanzees, capuchins and macaques have been observed using tools to crack nuts in the wild (Boesch & Boesch, 1990; Gumert, Kluck, & Malaivijitnond, 2009; Ottoni & Mannu, 2001). However, the learning mechanisms behind this behaviour, and the extent of nut-cracking in other primate species are still unknown. The aim of this study was two-fold. First, we aimed to examine whether other great ape species would develop nut-cracking when provided with all the tools and motivation to do so. Second, we wanted to examine the mechanisms behind the emergence of nut-cracking in a naive sample. Orangutans (Pongo abelii; pygmaeus) have not been observed cracking nuts in the wild, despite having the second most extensive tool-use repertoire of the great apes (after chimpanzees), having the materials for the behaviour in the wild (albeit rarely) and possessing flexible problem-solving capacities. Therefore, orangutans are a valid candidate species for the investigation of the development of nut-cracking. Four nut-cracking-naive orangutans at Leipzig zoo (Pongo abelii; Mage=16; age range=10-19; 4F; at time of testing) were provided with nuts and hammers but were not demonstrated the nut-cracking behavioural form, in order to control for the role of copying social learning in the acquisition of this behaviour. Additionally, we report data from a previously unpublished study by one of the authors (MF) with eight orangutans housed at Zurich zoo (10 Pongo abelii and two Pongo pygmaeus; Mage=14; age range =2-30; 5F; at time of testing) that followed a similar testing paradigm. Out of the twelve orangutans across both testing institutions, at least four individuals, one from Leipzig (Pongo abelii) and three from Zurich (Pongo abelii; pygmaeus), spontaneously expressed nut-cracking with a wooden hammer. These results suggest that the behavioural form of nut-cracking using hammer tools can emerge in orangutans when required through individual learning combined, in some cases, with non-copying social learning mechanisms.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

Ape cultures do not require behavior copying

While culture is widespread in the animal kingdom, human culture has been claimed to be special due to being cumulative. It is currently debated which cognitive abilities support cumulative culture, but behavioural form copying is one of the main abilities proposed. One important source of contention is the presence or absence of behaviour copying in our closest living relatives, non-human great apes (apes) – especially given that their behaviour does not show clear signs of cumulation. Those who claim that apes copy behaviour often base this claim on the existence of stable ape cultures in the wild. We developed an individual-based model to test whether ape cultural patterns can emerge in absence of any behaviour copying, when only allowing for a well-supported alternative social learning mechanism, socially mediated reinnovation, where only the frequency of reinnovation is under social influence, but the form of the behaviour is not. Our model reflects wild ape life conditions, including physiological and behavioural needs, demographic and spatial features, and possible genetic and ecological variation between populations. Our results show that, under a wide range of values of parameters, we can reproduce the defining features of wild ape cultural patterns. Overall, our results show that ape cultures can emerge and stabilise without behaviour copying. Ape cultures do not show the signatures of behaviour copying abilities, lending support to the notion that behaviour copying is, among apes, unique in the human lineage. It therefore remains an open question when and why behaviour copying evolved in hominins.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text

animal behavior and cognition↗