Imitation and traditions in wild banded mongooses

Abstract

Evidence has accumulated in recent years indicating that traditions are not a unique feature of human societies but may be common in primates and some other mammals. However, most documented cases remain contentious because observational studies of free-living animals suffer from interpretive weaknesses, whereas social diffusion experiments performed in captivity may not reflect conditions found in nature. Here we use experiments under natural conditions to demonstrate that wild banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) pass preferences for one of two possible foraging techniques on to the next generation through contextual imitation. Notably, both techniques coexisted within the same groups and were transmitted concurrently between adults and pups, which form close one-to-one associations during the period of pup dependency. This experimental demonstration of a foraging tradition in wild mammals provides critical evidence to support previous accounts of traditions in nonhuman animals based on distribution patterns of natural behaviors. Moreover, our data provide the first experimental demonstration of imitation in wild mammals and, contrary to common assumption, show that social learning need not lead to an increased behavioral homogeneity within groups.