Lack of conformity to new local dietary preferences in migrating captive chimpanzees.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_399DAA1208C5
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
Lack of conformity to new local dietary preferences in migrating captive chimpanzees.
Journal
Animal Behaviour
Author(s)
Vale G.L., Davis S.J., van de Waal E., Schapiro S.J., Lambeth S.P., Whiten A.
ISSN
0003-3472 (Print)
ISSN-L
0003-3472
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
124
Pages
135-144
Language
english
Abstract
Conformity to the behavioural preferences of others can have powerful effects on intragroup behavioural homogeneity in humans, but evidence in animals remains minimal. In this study, we took advantage of circumstances in which individuals or pairs of captive chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, were 'migrated' between groups, to investigate whether immigrants would conform to a new dietary population preference experienced in the group they entered, an effect suggested by recent fieldwork. Such 'migratory-minority' chimpanzees were trained to avoid one of two differently coloured foods made unpalatable, before 'migrating' to, and then observing, a 'local-majority' group consume a different food colour. Both migratory-minority and local-majority chimpanzees displayed social learning, spending significantly more time consuming the previously unpalatable, but instead now edible, food, than did control chimpanzees who did not see immigrants eat this food, nor emigrate themselves. However, following the migration of migratory-minority chimpanzees, these control individuals and the local-majority chimpanzees tended to rely primarily upon personal information, consuming first the food they had earlier learned was palatable before sampling the alternative. Thus, chimpanzees did not engage in conformity in the context we tested; instead seeing others eat a previously unpalatable food led to socially learned and adaptive re-exploration of this now-safe option in both minority and majority participants.
Keywords
Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Base Sequence, Codon, DNA/genetics, DNA/isolation & purification, Liver/enzymology, Molecular Sequence Data, Molecular Weight, Nucleic Acid Hybridization, Rats, Urate Oxidase/genetics, conformity, cultural transmission biases, culture, social learning, social-learning strategies
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
04/07/2017 9:03
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:29
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