Social learning and the development of individual and group behaviour in mammal societies

Abstract

As in human societies, social learning may play an important role in shaping individual and group characteristics in other mammals. Here, we review research on non-primate mammals, concentrating on work at our long-term meerkat study site, where longitudinal data and field experiments have generated important insights into the role of social learning under natural conditions. Meerkats live under high predation pressure and occupy a difficult foraging niche. Accordingly, pups make extensive use of social information in learning to avoid predation and obtain food. Where individual learning is costly or opportunities are lacking, as in the acquisition of prey-handling skills, adults play an active role in promoting learning through teaching. Social learning can also cause information to spread through groups, but our data suggest that this does not necessarily result in homogeneous, group-wide traditions. Moreover, traditions are commonly eroded by individual learning. We suggest that traditions will only persist where there are high costs of deviating from the group norm or where skill development requires extensive time and effort. Persistent traditions could, theoretically, modify selection pressures and influence genetic evolution. Further empirical studies of social learning in natural populations are now urgently needed to substantiate theoretical claims.

Figure 1.

(a) Young pups often dig in holes dug by adults. (Reproduced with permission from [28].) (b) Young pups learn to eat dead scorpions more rapidly if they see helpers eating scorpions than if exposed to dead scorpions (unadulterated or covered in adult saliva) when alone. (Reproduced with permission from [38].) (c) Adults increasingly provision pups with live, intact prey items as they grow older (open circles, scorpions; filled circles, other mobile prey). (Reproduced with permission from [47].)

Figure 2.

(a) Meerkats could obtain food from the experimental apparatus either by going through the flap or by climbing up the stairs and breaking a paper lid. In group W, the flap technique was transmitted from the trained demonstrator to other individuals. The flap technique also spread in group AZ, but here the demonstrator also discovered the stairs technique and was observed by a pup, who subsequently adopted the technique. dem, demonstrator; m, male; f, female; a, adult; j, juvenile; p, pup. (Reproduced with permission from [68].) (b) Meerkats in control groups with no demonstrators showed no preference for either of the two equally rewarding landmarks; meerkats in experimental groups showed an initial preference for landmarks used by demonstrators, but this collapsed over time. Symbols are mean preferences for each group per session (open, control groups; filled, experimental groups); solid and dotted lines show combined means ± s.e. for experimental and control groups, respectively. (Reproduced with permission from [76].)