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4 - Social learning about food in birds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

By
Louis Lefebvre  and
Julie Bouchard
Edited by
Dorothy M. Fragaszy  and
Susan Perry
Louis Lefebvre
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 avenue Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
Julie Bouchard
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
Dorothy M. Fragaszy
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Susan Perry
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

Introduction

Since the classic studies on potato and wheat washing in Japanese macaques (Kawai, 1965), traditions have often been studied in nonhuman animals because they represent an important precursor to human culture. This anthropocentric program has led many researchers to study primates and to focus on cognitive traits that are associated with human culture, for example imitation, language, tool use, and theory of mind. In this perspective, the study of nonhuman culture has recently culminated in the demonstration that wild chimpanzees in seven African populations show as many as 39 behavioral variants that may be attributed to “culture” (Whiten et al., 1999). For psychologists and anthropologists, the concern with precursors of human behavior in the closest relatives of Homo sapiens is perfectly justified. For biologists, however, the evolution of cognition must be studied on a much broader and phylogenetically distant set of taxa; in comparative biology (Harvey and Pagel, 1991), one of the goals is to remove phylogenetic influences from taxonomic data and to look for independent evolution of traits as adaptations to particular ecological and life-history conditions.

In this chapter, we compare the origin and diffusion of new feeding behaviors in birds and mammals. We begin by explaining why birds are particularly suitable to a comparison with mammals, and we discuss the use of anecdotal reports in the study of cognition. We then highlight three features by which the current literature on birds appears to differ from that on mammals and propose hypotheses to explain the differences.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Biology of Traditions
Models and Evidence
 , pp. 94 - 126
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

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  • Social learning about food in birds
    • By Louis Lefebvre, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 avenue Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada, Julie Bouchard, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
  • Edited by Dorothy M. Fragaszy, University of Georgia, Susan Perry, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: The Biology of Traditions
  • Online publication: 27 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511584022.005
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  • Social learning about food in birds
    • By Louis Lefebvre, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 avenue Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada, Julie Bouchard, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
  • Edited by Dorothy M. Fragaszy, University of Georgia, Susan Perry, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: The Biology of Traditions
  • Online publication: 27 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511584022.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Social learning about food in birds
    • By Louis Lefebvre, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 avenue Docteur Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada, Julie Bouchard, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, Montreal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada
  • Edited by Dorothy M. Fragaszy, University of Georgia, Susan Perry, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: The Biology of Traditions
  • Online publication: 27 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511584022.005
Available formats
×