Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The research aims of this thesis are to experimentally investigate how behaviours \nspread socially, and what factors contribute to the development of group-wide \nsocial traditions in capuchins (Cebus apella). Given the apparent convergent \nevolution between such monkeys and great apes, capuchin traditions are of great \ninterest anthropologically and for a biological and psychological understanding of \nculture. Several studies have investigated social learning in capuchins, but few have \nmade headway into understanding how it supports the development of traditions \neither in the wild or in captivity. By experimentally introducing novel foraging \nbehaviours into several captive groups, the studies included in this thesis simulate \nthe development of foraging behaviours so that their spread can be studied from \nvarious viewpoints. Five experiments are presented investigating: (1) the chained \ntransmission of foraging behaviours, (2) the role of social facilitation on the rate of \nindividual learning, (3) the fidelity of learning from localised stimulus enhancement \n& object-movement re-enactment, (4) the quality of individual relationships in the \nsocial transmission of novel foraging techniques, and (5) the open diffusion of \ngroup-specific foraging behaviours in capuchin monkeys. Together, these \nexperiments explore how traditions may develop, ranging from individual learning \nto how behaviour patterns may spread socially based on social ties within the \ngroup.
Author: Marietta Dindo
Language: English
Topic: Primate Behavior and Ecology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1531505320