Spontaneous emergence, imitation and spread of alternative foraging techniques among groups of vervet monkeys.
Détails
Etat: Public
Version: Final published version
Licence: CC BY 4.0
ID Serval
serval:BIB_2FD0799C7180
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Spontaneous emergence, imitation and spread of alternative foraging techniques among groups of vervet monkeys.
Périodique
PLoS One
ISSN
1932-6203 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1932-6203
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2012
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
7
Numéro
10
Pages
e47008
Langue
anglais
Résumé
Animal social learning has become a subject of broad interest, but demonstrations of bodily imitation in animals remain rare. Based on Voelkl and Huber's study of imitation by marmosets, we tested four groups of semi-captive vervet monkeys presented with food in modified film canisters ("aethipops'). One individual was trained to take the tops off canisters in each group and demonstrated five openings to them. In three groups these models used their mouth to remove the lid, but in one of the groups the model also spontaneously pulled ropes on a canister to open it. In the last group the model preferred to remove the lid with her hands. Following these spontaneous differentiations of foraging techniques in the models, we observed the techniques used by the other group members to open the canisters. We found that mouth opening was the most common technique overall, but the rope and hands methods were used significantly more in groups they were demonstrated in than in groups where they were not. Our results show bodily matching that is conventionally described as imitation. We discuss the relevance of these findings to discoveries about mirror neurons, and implications of the identity of the model for social transmission.
Mots-clé
Animals, Behavior, Animal, Cercopithecus aethiops, Feeding Behavior, Female, Imitative Behavior, Male, Social Behavior
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Oui
Création de la notice
04/07/2017 8:30
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 14:14