Symposia of the Zoological Society of London 72
MAMMALIAN SOCIAL LEARNING: COMPARATIVE AND ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Edited by:
Hilary 0. Box and Kathleen R. Gibson
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1999
SUMMARY
Social learning commonly refers to the social transfer of
information and skill among individuals. It encompasses a
wide range of behaviours that include where and how to obtain
food, how to interact with members of one's own social group,
and how to identify and respond appropriately to predators.
The behaviour of experienced individuals provides natural
sources of information, by which inexperienced individuals
may learn about the opportunities and hazards of their
environment, and develop and modify their own behaviour as a
result. A wide diversity of species is discussed in this
book, some of which have never been discussed in this context
before, and particular reference is made to their natural
life strategies. Social learning in humans is also considered
by comparison with other mammals, especially in their
technological and craft traditions. Moreover, for the first
time discussion is included of the social learning abilities
of prehistoric hominids.
HILARY BOX is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of
Psychology at the University of Reading, and has previously
been President of the Primate Society of Great Britain and a
Vice-President of the International Primatological Society.
KATHLEEN GIBSON is Professor and Chair of Basic Sciences and
Adjunct Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the
University of Texas, Houston, and Adjunct Professor of
Anthropology at Rice University. She has previously been
Chair of the Section of Biological Anthropology and a member
of the Executive Board of the American Anthropological
Association.
CONTENTS
List of contributors................................page viii
Preface.....................................................x
Part 1:New perspectives in studies of social learning.......1
Editors' comments....................................1
Hilary 0. Box and Kathleen R. Gibson
1 The myth of peculiar primates.............................6
Thelma Rowell
2 New directions in the study of primate learning..........17
Barbara T King
3 Temperament and socially mediated learning among
primates...................................................33
Hilary 0. Box
4 Evolutionary biology of skill and information transfer...57
Richard M. Sibly
Part 2:Social learning among species of terrestrial
herbivores..........................................73
Editors' comments...................................73
Hilary 0. Box and Kathleen R. Gibson
5 Social learning in marsupials............................80
Karen Higginbottom and David B. Croft
6 The social context for learning and behavioural development
among wild African elephants..............................102
Phyllis C. Lee and Cynthia F. Moss
7 Comparative social learning among arctic herbivores: the
caribou, muskox and arctic hare...........................126
David R. Klein
8. Transmission of olfactory information from mother to young
in the European rabbit....................................141
Robyn Hudson, Benoist Schaal and Agnes Bilko
9 Social transfer of information in domestic animals......158
Donald M. Broom
Part 3: Rats, bats and naked mole-rats: animals with
information centres...............................169
Editors' comments.................................169
Kathleen R. Gibson and Hilary 0. Box
10 Exploring the dynamics of social transmission
with rats.................................................174
Kevin N. Laland
11 Social influences on foraging in bats..................188
Gerald S. Wilkinson and Janette Wenrick Boughman
12 Social transmission of information in a eusocial rodent,
the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber)................205
Chris G. Faulkes
Part 4: Social learning among species of terrestrial
carnivores........................................221
Editors' comments.................................221
Hilary 0. Box and Kathleen R. Gibson
13 Opportunities for social learning in bears.............225
Barrie K Gilbert
14 Watch with mother: a review of social learning in the
Felidae...................................................236
Andrew C. Kitchener
15 Social learning in canids: an ecological perspective...259
Jan A. J. Nel
Part 5: Dolphins and whales: communication and foraging in
aquatic environments..............................279
Editors' comments.................................279
Kathleen R. Gibson and Hilary 0. Box
16 Social learning in cetaceans: hunting, hearing and
hierarchies...............................................282
James R. Boran and Sara L. Heimlich
17 Origins and implications of vocal learning in bottlenose
dolphins..................................................308
Vincent M. Ianik
Part 6: The great ape - human adaptation: culture and the
cognitive niche...................................327
Editors' comments.................................327
Kathleen R. Gibson and Hilary 0. Box
18 Cognition in great ape ecology: skill-learning ability
opens up foraging opportunities...........................333
Richard W. Byrne
19 Social transmission of facts and skills in the human
species: neural mechanisms................................351
Kathleen R. Gibson
20 Cultural learning in hominids: a behavioural ecological
approach..................................................367
Stephen J. Shennan and James Steele
21 Imitation and cultural change: a view from the Stone Age,
with specific reference to the manufacture of handaxes....389
Steven Mithen
Concluding remarks........................................401
Social learning and behavioural strategies among mammals..401
Hilary 0. Box and Kathleen R. Gibson
Index.....................................................415
CONTRIBUTORS
Agnes Bilko
Department of Ethology
Eotvos Lorand University
Budapest
Hungary
Janette Wenrick Boughman
Department of Zoology
University of Maryland
College Park
MD 20742, USA
James R. Boran
Zoology Department
Cambridge University
Cambridge, UK
Current address
Seawatch Foundation
70 Stratford Street
Oxford
OX4 ISW, UK
Hilary O. Box
Department of Psychology
University of Reading
3 Early Gate
Whiteknights
Reading RG6 6AL, UK
Donald M. Broom
Department of Clinical
Veterinary Medicine
University of Cambridge
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 OES, UK
Richard W. Byrne
Scottish Primate Research Group
Department of Psychology
University of St Andrews
St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JU
Scotland, UK
David B. Croft
School of Biological Science
University of New South Wales
Sydney
New South Wales
Australia 2052
Chris G. Faulkes
Conservation Genetics Group
Institute of Zoology
Zoological Society of London
Regent's Park
London NWI 4RY, UK
Kathleen R. Gibson
Department of Basic Sciences
University of Texas Houston
Dental Branch
PO Box 60028
Houston, TX 77225, USA
Barrie K. Gilbert
Department of Fisheries and
Wildlife Ecology Center
Utah State University
5210 Old Main Building
Logan, UT 84322-5210, USA
Sara L. Heimlich
Hatfield Marine Science Center
Oregon State University
Newport, Oregon, USA
Karen Higginbottom
School of Applied Science
Griffith University
PMB 50
Gold Coast Mail Centre
Queensland 9726
Australia
Robyn Hudson
Institut fur Medizinische
Psychologie
Goethestr.31
D-80336
Munchen
Germany
Vincent M. Janik
Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution
Department of Biology
Redfield, MS
34 Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Barbara J. King
Department of Anthropology
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795,
USA
Andrew C. Kitchener
Department of Geology and
Zoology
National Museums of Scotland
Royal Museum
Chambers Street
Edinburgh EH1 1 JF
Scotland, UK
David R. Klein
Institute of Arctic Biology
University of Alaska
Fairbanks AK 99775, USA
Kevin N. Laland
Sub-Department of Animal
Behaviour
University of Cambridge
Madingley
Cambridge CB3 BAA, UK
Phyllis C. Lee
Department of Biological
Anthropology
University of Cambridge
Downing Street
Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
Steven Mithen
Department of Archaeology
University of Reading
Whiteknights
Reading RG6 6AA, UK
Cynthia J. Moss
Amboseli Elephant Research
Project
African Wildlife Foundation
PO Box 48177
Nairobi, Kenya,
East Africa
Jan A. J. Nel
Department of Zoology
University of Stellenbosch
Private Bag X 1.
Matieland 7602
South Africa
Thelma Rowell
Professor Emeritus
Department of Integrative
Biology
University of California at
Berkeley
California 94720, USA
and West Chapel House
Chapel-leDale
Ingleton via Carnforth LAO 3JG,
UK
Benoist Schaal
Laboratoire de Comportement
Animal
CNRS ura 1291, Inra
Station de Physiologie de la
Reproduction
Nouzilly
France
Stephen J. Shennan
Institute of Archaeology
University College London
31-34 Gordon Square
London WCIE OPY, UK
Richard M. Sibly
School of Animal and Microbial
Sciences
University of Reading
PO Box 228
Reading RG6 6AJ, UK
James Steele
Department of Archaeology
University of Southampton
Highfield, Southampton SO17
IBJ, UK
Gerald S. Wilkinson
Department of Zoology
1210 Zoology/Psychology Bdg
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742 4415,
USA
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