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100-542: The common form of a scarecrow is a humanoid figure dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops. Machinery such as windmills have been employed as scarecrows, but the effectiveness lessens as animals become familiar with the structures. Since the invention of the humanoid scarecrow, more effective methods have been developed. On California farmland, highly-reflective aluminized PET film ribbons are tied to

200-455: A "process of elimination" approach, researchers Krutzen et al. reported evidence of culturally transmitted tool use in bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops sp.). It has been previously noted that tool use in foraging, called "sponging" exists in this species. "Sponging" describes a behavior where a dolphin will break off a marine sponge, wear it over its rostrum, and use it to probe for fish. Using various genetic techniques, Krutzen et al. showed that

300-775: A better sense of smell. A third stage of bird evolution starting with Ornithothoraces (the "bird-chested" avialans) can be associated with the refining of aerodynamics and flight capabilities, and the loss or co-ossification of several skeletal features. Particularly significant are the development of an enlarged, keeled sternum and the alula , and the loss of grasping hands. † Anchiornis † Archaeopteryx † Xiaotingia † Rahonavis † Jeholornis † Jixiangornis † Balaur † Zhongjianornis † Sapeornis † Confuciusornithiformes † Protopteryx † Pengornis Ornithothoraces † Enantiornithes Animal culture#Examples of culturally transmitted behaviors in birds Animal culture can be defined as

400-486: A certain troop of chimpanzees in Tanzania, but not found in other groups nearby. This grooming behavior involved one chimpanzee taking hold of the hand of another and lifting it into the air, allowing the two to groom each other's armpits. Though this would seem to make grooming of the armpits easier, the behavior actually has no apparent advantage. As the primatologist Frans de Waal explains from his later observations of

500-465: A characteristic of certain animals who have more advanced cultural capacities. The likelihood of larger groups within a species developing and sharing these intra-species traditions with peers and offspring is much higher than that of one individual spreading some aspect of animal behavior to one or more members. Cultural transmission, as opposed to individual learning, is therefore a more efficient manner of spreading traditions and allowing members of

600-435: A contentious subject, sometimes forcing researchers to rethink "what it is to be human". The notion of culture in other animals dates back to Aristotle in classical antiquity , and more recently to Charles Darwin , but the association of other animals' actions with the actual word 'culture' originated with Japanese primatologists ' discoveries of socially-transmitted food behaviours in the 1940s. Evidence for animal culture

700-560: A deeper understanding of language after lengthy training. A bonobo named Kanzi has taken the use of the English language even further. Kanzi was taught to recognize words and their associations by using a lexigram board . Through observation of its mother's language training, Kanzi was able to learn how to use the lexigrams to obtain food and other items that he desired. Also, Kanzi is able to use his understanding of lexigrams to decipher and comprehend simple sentences. For example, when he

800-473: A definition similar to "all theropods closer to birds than to Deinonychus ", with Troodon being sometimes added as a second external specifier in case it is closer to birds than to Deinonychus . Avialae is also occasionally defined as an apomorphy-based clade (that is, one based on physical characteristics). Jacques Gauthier , who named Avialae in 1986, re-defined it in 2001 as all dinosaurs that possessed feathered wings used in flapping flight , and

900-442: A group called Paraves . Some basal members of Deinonychosauria, such as Microraptor , have features which may have enabled them to glide or fly. The most basal deinonychosaurs were very small. This evidence raises the possibility that the ancestor of all paravians may have been arboreal , have been able to glide, or both. Unlike Archaeopteryx and the non-avialan feathered dinosaurs, who primarily ate meat, studies suggest that

1000-634: A group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves ( Latin: [ˈaveːs] ), characterised by feathers , toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart , and a strong yet lightweight skeleton . Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5.5 cm (2.2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) common ostrich . There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders . More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species;

1100-482: A leading cetologist , and his colleagues conducted a study in 1992 of sperm whale groups in the South Pacific, finding that groups tended to be clustered based on their vocal dialects. The differences in the whales' songs among and between the various groups could not be explained genetically or ecologically, and thus was attributed to social learning. In mammals such as these sperm whales or bottlenose dolphins,

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1200-441: A matter of days and hours rather than the many years of reproduction it would take for a behavior to spread among organisms in genetic transmission. Culture can be transmitted among animals through various methods, the most common of which include imitation , teaching , and language . Imitation is one of the most prevalent modes of cultural transmission in non-human animals, while teaching and language are much less widespread. In

1300-460: A much higher rate of effectiveness than those who do not have a shared goal. A further definition of culture is, "[s]ocially transmitted behavior patterns that serve to relate human communities to their ecological settings." This definition connects cultural behavior to the environment. Since culture is a form of adaptation to one's environment, it is mirrored in many aspects of our current and past societies. Other researchers are currently exploring

1400-639: A novel way. The environmental stimuli that contribute to this variance can include climate , migration patterns , conflict, suitability for survival, and endemic pathogens . Cultural transmission can also vary according to different social learning strategies employed at the species and or individual level. Cultural transmission is hypothesized to be a critical process for maintaining behavioral characteristics in both humans and nonhuman animals over time, and its existence relies on innovation, imitation, and communication to create and propagate various aspects of animal behavior seen today. Culture , when defined as

1500-679: A population of honey bees. Andrew Whiten , professor of Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology at the University of St. Andrews , contributed to the greater understanding of cultural transmission with his work on chimpanzees . In Cultural Traditions in Chimpanzees , Whiten created a compilation of results from seven long-term studies totaling 151 years of observation analyzing behavioral patterns in different communities of chimpanzees in Africa (read more about it below). The study expanded

1600-542: A population-level characteristic". Eight years later, after "conducting large-scale controlled social-diffusion experiments with captive groups", Whiten et al. stated further that "alternative foraging techniques seeded in different groups of chimpanzees spread differentially...across two further groups with substantial fidelity". This finding confirms not only that nonhuman species can maintain unique cultural traditions; it also shows that they can pass these traditions on from one population to another. The Whiten articles are

1700-406: A sister group, the order Crocodilia , contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria . During the late 1990s, Aves was most commonly defined phylogenetically as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of modern birds and Archaeopteryx lithographica . However, an earlier definition proposed by Jacques Gauthier gained wide currency in the 21st century, and

1800-448: A species to collectively inherit more adaptive behavior . This process by which offspring within a species acquires his or her own culture through mimicry or being introduced to traditions is referred to as enculturation . The role of cultural transmission in cultural evolution, then, is to provide the outlet for which organisms create and spread traditions that shape patterns of animal behavior visibly over generations. Culture, which

1900-410: A study on food acquisition techniques in meerkats ( Suricata suricatta ), researchers found evidence that meerkats learned foraging tricks through imitation of conspecifics . The experimental setup consisted of an apparatus containing food with two possible methods that could be used to obtain the food. Naïve meerkats learned and used the method exhibited by the "demonstrator" meerkat trained in one of

2000-425: A teacher must change its behavior when interacting with a naïve individual and incur an initial cost from teaching, while an observer must acquire skills rapidly as a direct consequence. Until the 1980s, teaching , or social learning, was a skill that was thought to be uniquely human. However, research continued through the 1990s and beyond documented the existence of social learning among animal groups , which

2100-717: A time, sometimes for years, and rarely for life. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous (one male with many females) or, rarely, polyandrous (one female with many males). Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction . They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents. Most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Many species of birds are economically important as food for human consumption and raw material in manufacturing, with domesticated and undomesticated birds being important sources of eggs, meat, and feathers. Songbirds , parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano (bird excrement)

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2200-409: A tribute to the unique inventiveness of wild chimpanzees, and help prove that humans' impressive capacity for culture and cultural transmission dates back to the now-extinct common ancestor we share with chimpanzees. Similar to humans, social structure plays an important role in cultural transmission in chimpanzees. Victoria Horner conducted an experiment where an older, higher ranking individual and

2300-509: A younger, lower ranking individual were both taught the same task with only slight aesthetic modification. She found that chimpanzees tended to imitate the behaviors of the older, higher ranking chimpanzee as opposed to the younger, lower ranking individual when given a choice. It is believed that the older higher ranking individual had gained a level of 'prestige' within the group. This research demonstrates that culturally transmitted behaviors are often learned from individuals that are respected by

2400-540: Is called ornithology . Birds are feathered theropod dinosaurs and constitute the only known living dinosaurs . Likewise, birds are considered reptiles in the modern cladistic sense of the term, and their closest living relatives are the crocodilians . Birds are descendants of the primitive avialans (whose members include Archaeopteryx ) which first appeared during the Late Jurassic . According to recent estimates, modern birds ( Neornithes ) evolved in

2500-429: Is harvested for use as a fertiliser. Birds figure throughout human culture. About 120 to 130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry. The first classification of birds

2600-503: Is not considered a direct ancestor of birds, though it is possibly closely related to the true ancestor. Over 40% of key traits found in modern birds evolved during the 60 million year transition from the earliest bird-line archosaurs to the first maniraptoromorphs , i.e. the first dinosaurs closer to living birds than to Tyrannosaurus rex . The loss of osteoderms otherwise common in archosaurs and acquisition of primitive feathers might have occurred early during this phase. After

2700-400: Is not limited to mammals. Many insects, for example have been observed demonstrating various forms of teaching in order to obtain food. Ants, for example, will guide each other to food sources through a process called " tandem running ", in which an ant will guide a companion ant to a source of food. It has been suggested that the "pupil" ant is able to learn this route in order to obtain food in

2800-576: Is often based on studies of feeding behaviors, vocalizations, predator avoidance, mate selection, and migratory routes. An important area of study for animal culture is vocal learning , the ability to make new sounds through imitation. Most species cannot learn to imitate sounds. Some can learn how to use innate vocalizations in new ways. Only a few species can learn new calls. The transmission of vocal repertoires, including some types of bird vocalization , can be viewed as social processes involving cultural transmission. Some evidence suggests that

2900-521: Is specific to region and not just one umbrella definition or concept can truly give us the essence of what culture is. Also referenced is the importance of symbols and rituals as cognitive building blocks for a psychological concept of shared culture. Richard Dawkins argues for the existence of a "unit of cultural transmission" called a meme . This concept of memes has become much more accepted as more extensive research has been done into cultural behaviors. Much as one can inherit genes from each parent, it

3000-438: Is suggested that individuals acquire memes through imitating what they observe around them. The more relevant actions (actions that increase ones probability of survival), such as architecture and craftwork are more likely to become prevalent, enabling a culture to form. The idea of memes as following a form of Natural Selection was first presented by Daniel Dennett . It has also been argued by Dennett that memes are responsible for

3100-516: Is synonymous to Avifilopluma. † Scansoriopterygidae † Eosinopteryx † Jinfengopteryx † Aurornis † Dromaeosauridae † Troodontidae Avialae Based on fossil and biological evidence, most scientists accept that birds are a specialised subgroup of theropod dinosaurs and, more specifically, members of Maniraptora , a group of theropods which includes dromaeosaurids and oviraptorosaurs , among others. As scientists have discovered more theropods closely related to birds,

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3200-412: Is the process and method of passing on socially learned information. Within a species, cultural transmission is greatly influenced by how adults socialize with each other and with their young. Differences in cultural transmission across species have been thought to be largely affected by external factors, such as the physical environment, that may lead an individual to interpret a traditional concept in

3300-416: Is the utilization of "involvement, consistency, adaptation, and mission." Cultural traits that are indicators of a successful form of organization are more likely to be assimilated into our everyday lives. Organizations that utilize the four aforementioned aspects of culture are the ones that are the most successful. Therefore, cultures that are better able to involve their citizens towards a common goal have

3400-535: Is used by many scientists including adherents to the PhyloCode . Gauthier defined Aves to include only the crown group of the set of modern birds. This was done by excluding most groups known only from fossils , and assigning them, instead, to the broader group Avialae, on the principle that a clade based on extant species should be limited to those extant species and their closest extinct relatives. Gauthier and de Queiroz identified four different definitions for

3500-457: Is very common in human culture as well. People will seek to imitate the behaviors of an individual that has earned respect through their actions. From this information, it is evident that the cultural transmission system of chimpanzees is more complex than previous research would indicate. Chimpanzees have been known to use tools for as long as they have been studied. Andrew Whiten found that chimpanzees not only use tools, but also conform to using

3600-722: The Late Cretaceous and diversified dramatically around the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago, which killed off the pterosaurs and all non- ornithuran dinosaurs. Many social species preserve knowledge across generations ( culture ). Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and songs , and participating in such behaviour as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking , and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of bird species are socially (but not necessarily sexually) monogamous , usually for one breeding season at

3700-669: The Tiaojishan Formation of China, which has been dated to the late Jurassic period ( Oxfordian stage), about 160 million years ago. The avialan species from this time period include Anchiornis huxleyi , Xiaotingia zhengi , and Aurornis xui . The well-known probable early avialan, Archaeopteryx , dates from slightly later Jurassic rocks (about 155 million years old) from Germany . Many of these early avialans shared unusual anatomical features that may be ancestral to modern birds but were later lost during bird evolution. These features include enlarged claws on

3800-465: The Webster's dictionary definition of culture, learning and transmission are the two main components of culture, specifically referencing tool making and the ability to acquire behaviors that will enhance one's quality of life. Using this definition it is possible to conclude that other animals are just as likely to adapt to cultural behaviors as humans. One of the first signs of culture in early humans

3900-449: The 2000s, research into imitation in animals had resulted in the tentative labeling of certain species of birds, monkeys, apes, and cetaceans as having the capacity for imitation. For example, a Grey parrot by the name of Alex underwent a series of tests and experiments at the University of Arizona in which scientist Irene Pepperberg judged his ability to imitate the human language in order to create vocalizations and object labels. Through

4000-437: The ability of non-human animals to learn and transmit behaviors through processes of social or cultural learning . Culture is increasingly seen as a process, involving the social transmittance of behavior among peers and between generations. It can involve the transmission of novel behaviors or regional variations that are independent of genetic or ecological factors. The existence of culture in non-humans has been

4100-423: The ability to engage in vocal learning depends on the development of specialized brain circuitry, detected in humans , dolphins , bats and some birds . The lack of common ancestors suggests that the basis for vocal learning has evolved independently through evolutionary convergence . Animal culture can be an important consideration in conservation management. As of 2020, culture and sociality were included in

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4200-433: The ability to have the same effect as normal maternally inherited mtDNA. The divergence of the sympatric resident and transient ecotypes of orcas off Vancouver Island is attributed to differences in diet. The resident ecotype feeds on fish and a little squid, and the transient ecotype feeds on marine mammals. Vocalizations have also been proven to be culturally acquired in orca and sperm whale populations, as evidenced by

4300-428: The appearance of Maniraptoromorpha, the next 40 million years marked a continuous reduction of body size and the accumulation of neotenic (juvenile-like) characteristics. Hypercarnivory became increasingly less common while braincases enlarged and forelimbs became longer. The integument evolved into complex, pennaceous feathers . The oldest known paravian (and probably the earliest avialan) fossils come from

4400-518: The aspects of the management framework of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Culture can be defined as "all group-typical behavior patterns, shared by members of animal communities, that are to some degree reliant on socially learned and transmitted information". One definition of culture, particularly in relation to the organizational aspect

4500-539: The behavior of "sponging" is vertically transmitted from the mother, with most spongers being female. Additionally, they found high levels of genetic relatedness from spongers, suggesting recent ancestry and the existence of a phenomenon researchers call a "sponging eve". In order to make a case for cultural transmission as the mode of behavioral inheritance in this case, Krutzen et al. needed to rule out possible genetic and ecological explanations. The Krutzen et al. refer to data that indicate both spongers and nonspongers use

4600-509: The birds that descended from them. Despite being currently one of the most widely used, the crown-group definition of Aves has been criticised by some researchers. Lee and Spencer (1997) argued that, contrary to what Gauthier defended, this definition would not increase the stability of the clade and the exact content of Aves will always be uncertain because any defined clade (either crown or not) will have few synapomorphies distinguishing it from its closest relatives. Their alternative definition

4700-480: The conclusion that the use of the English language to refer to objects is not unique to humans and is arguably true imitation, a basic form of cultural learning found in young children. Language is another key indicator of animals who have greater potential to possess culture. Though animals do not naturally use words like humans when they are communicating, the well-known parrot Alex demonstrated that even animals with small brains, but are adept at imitation, can have

4800-529: The decision on whether an animal has the capacity for culture comes from more than simple behavioral observations. As described by ecologist Brooke Sergeant, "on the basis of life-history characteristics, social patterns, and ecological environments, bottlenose dolphins have been considered likely candidates for socially learned and cultural behaviors," due to being large-brained and capable of vocal and motor imitation. In dolphins, scientists have focused mostly on foraging and vocal behaviors, though many worry about

4900-424: The differences Imanishi and his colleagues observed among the different groups of macaques may suggest that they had arisen as a part of the groups' unique cultures. The most famous of these eating behaviors was observed on the island of Koshima , where one young female was observed carrying soiled sweet potatoes to a small stream, where she proceeded to wash off all of the sand and dirt before eating. This behavior

5000-426: The distinct vocalization patterns maintained by members of these different populations even in cases where more than one population may occupy one home range. Even within the same community clan, the three southern resident orca pods maintain unique, stable dialects separate from each other's, though they are associated and share some pulsed calls and whistles. The majority of their vocalizations are repetitions of

5100-665: The earliest members of Aves, is removed from this group, becoming a non-avian dinosaur instead. These proposals have been adopted by many researchers in the field of palaeontology and bird evolution , though the exact definitions applied have been inconsistent. Avialae, initially proposed to replace the traditional fossil content of Aves, is often used synonymously with the vernacular term "bird" by these researchers. † Coelurus † Ornitholestes † Ornithomimosauria † Alvarezsauridae † Oviraptorosauria   Paraves Most researchers define Avialae as branch-based clade, though definitions vary. Many authors have used

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5200-590: The efforts of Pepperberg, Alex has been able to learn a large vocabulary of English words and phrases. Alex can then combine these words and phrases to make completely new words which are meaningless, but utilize the phonetic rules of the English language. Alex's capabilities of using and understanding more than 80 words, along with his ability to put together short phrases, demonstrates how birds, who many people do not credit with having deep intellect, can actually imitate and use rudimentary language skills in an effective manner. The results of this experiment culminated with

5300-447: The entirety of human consciousness. He claims that everything that constitutes humanity, such as language and music is a result of memes. A closely related concept to memes is the idea of evolutionary culture. The concept of evolutionary culture gained greater acceptance due to the re-evaluation of the term by anthropologists. The broadening scope of evolution from simple genes to more abstract concepts, such as designs and behaviors makes

5400-483: The environment, or of unknown origin. Their results were extensive: of the 65 categories of behavior studied, 39 (including grooming , tool usage and courtship behaviors ) were found to be habitual in some communities but nonexistent in others. Whiten et al. further made sure that these local traditions were not due to differences in ecology , and defined cultural behaviors as behaviors that are "transmitted repeatedly through social or observational learning to become

5500-401: The existence of memes. It especially reinforces the natural selection component, seeing as these actions employed by other animals are all mechanisms for making their lives easier, and therefore longer. Though the idea of 'culture' in other animals has only been around for just over half of a century, scientists have been noting social behaviors of other animals for centuries. Aristotle was

5600-763: The fact that social functions for the behaviors have not yet been found. As with primates, many humans are reluctantly willing, yet ever so slightly willing, to accept the notion of cetacean culture, when well evidenced, due to their similarity to humans in having "long lifetimes, advanced cognitive abilities, and prolonged parental care." In the cases of three species of matrilineal cetaceans, pilot whales , sperm whales , and orcas (also known as killer whales), mitochondrial DNA nucleotide diversities are about ten times lower than other species of whale. Whitehead found that this low mtDNA nucleotide diversity yet high diversity in matrilineal whale culture may be attributed to cultural transmission, since learned cultural traits have

5700-432: The fertilization of the egg. As can be seen, genetic transmission can only occur once during the lifetime of an organism. Thus, genetic transmission is quite slow compared to the relative speed of cultural transmission. In cultural transmission, behavioral information is passed through means of verbal, visual, or written methods of teaching. Therefore, in cultural transmission, new behaviors can be learned by many organisms in

5800-448: The field of cultural transmission, describing behavioral "traits" as characteristics pertaining to a culture that are recognizable within that culture. Using a quantifiable approach, Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman were able to produce mathematical models for three forms of cultural transmission, each of which have distinct effects on socialization: vertical, horizontal, and oblique. Cultural transmission , also known as cultural learning ,

5900-451: The first avialans were omnivores . The Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx is well known as one of the first transitional fossils to be found, and it provided support for the theory of evolution in the late 19th century. Archaeopteryx was the first fossil to display both clearly traditional reptilian characteristics—teeth, clawed fingers, and a long, lizard-like tail—as well as wings with flight feathers similar to those of modern birds. It

6000-411: The first to provide evidence of social learning in the songs of birds. Charles Darwin first attempted to find the existence of imitation in other animals when attempting to prove his theory that the human mind had evolved from that of lower beings. Darwin was also the first to suggest what became known as social learning in attempting to explain the transmission of an adaptive pattern of behavior through

6100-418: The future or teach the route to other ants. By the early 2000s, various studies that show that cetaceans are able to transmit culture through teaching as well. Killer whales are known to "intentionally beach" themselves in order to catch and eat pinnipeds who are breeding on the shore. Mother killer whales teach their young to catch pinnipeds by pushing them onto the shore and encouraging them to attack and eat

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6200-423: The group. The older, higher ranking individual's success in similar situations in the past led the other individuals to believe that their fitness would be greater by imitating the actions of the successful individual. This shows that not only are chimpanzees imitating behaviors of other individuals, they are choosing which individuals they should imitate in order to increase their own fitness. This type of behavior

6300-491: The hand-clasp grooming behavior in a different group of chimpanzees, "A unique property of the handclasp grooming posture is that it is not required for grooming the armpit of another individual... Thus it appears to yield no obvious benefits or rewards to the groomers." Prior to these findings, opponents to the idea of animal culture had argued that the behaviors being called cultural were simply behaviors that had evolutionarily evolved due to their importance to survival. After

6400-426: The idea of cetacean cultural transmission. Teaching is arguably the social learning mechanism that affords the highest fidelity of information transfer between individuals and generations, and allows a direct pathway through which local traditions can be passed down and transmitted. Imitation is often misinterpreted as merely the observation and copying of another's actions. This would be known as mimicry, because

6500-453: The idea of evolutionary culture more plausible. Evolutionary culture theory is defined as "a theory of cultural phylogeny." The idea that all human culture evolved from one main culture, citing the interconnectedness of languages , has also been presented. There is, however, also the possibility for disparate ancestral cultures, in that the cultures observed today may potentially have stemmed from more than one original culture. According to

6600-408: The idea that there is a connection between cultural sociology and psychology . Certain individuals are especially concerned with the analysis of studies connecting "identity, collective memory, social classification, logics of action, and framing." Views of what exactly culture is have been changing due to the convergence of sociological and psychological thought on the subject by the 1990s. Culture

6700-522: The identification of this initial non-evolutionarily advantageous evidence of culture, scientists began to find differences in group behaviors or traditions in various groups of primates, specifically in Africa. More than 40 different populations of wild chimpanzees have been studied across Africa, between which many species-specific, as well as population-specific, behaviors have been observed. The researching scientists found 65 different categories of behaviors among these various groups of chimpanzees, including

6800-519: The main types of social learning. Though the songbirds obviously learn their songs through imitating other birds, many scientists remain skeptical about the correlation between this and culture: "...the ability to imitate sound may be as reflexive and cognitively uncomplicated as the ability to breathe. It is how imitation affects and is affected by context, by ongoing social behavior, that must be studied before assuming its explanatory power." The scientists have found that simple imitation does not itself lay

6900-590: The mechanism of how optimal foraging techniques are transmitted. In this habitat, the rats' only source of food is pine seeds that they obtain from pine cones. Terkel et al. studied the way in which the rats obtained the seeds and the method that this strategy was transmitted to subsequent generations. Terkel et al. found that there was an optimal strategy for obtaining the seeds that minimized energy inputs and maximized outputs. Naïve rats that did not use this strategy could not learn it from trial and error or from watching experienced rats. Only young offspring could learn

7000-518: The most widely discussed research is that performed by Joseph Terkel in 1991 on a species of black rats that he had originally observed in the wild in Israel. Terkel conducted an in-depth study aimed to determine whether the observed behavior, the systematic stripping of pine cone scales from pine cones prior to eating, was a socially acquired behavior, as this action had not been observed elsewhere. The experimentation with and observation of these black rats

7100-596: The notion that cultural behavior lies beyond linguistic mediation, and can be interpreted to include distinctive socially learned behavior such as stone-handling and sweet potato washing in Japanese macaques . The implications of their findings indicate that chimpanzee behavioral patterns mimic the distinct behavioral variants seen in different human populations in which cultural transmission has generally always been an accepted concept. Population geneticists Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman have also been frontrunners in

7200-523: The only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds . Wings, which are modified forelimbs , gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds , including ratites , penguins , and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds , have further evolved for swimming. The study of birds

7300-564: The order Cetacea , which includes whales , dolphins , and porpoises , has been studied for numerous years. In these animals, much of the evidence for culture comes from vocalizations and feeding behaviors. Cetacean vocalizations have been studied for many years, specifically those of the bottlenose dolphin , humpback whale , killer whale , and sperm whale . Since the early 1970s, scientists have studied these four species in depth, finding potential cultural attributes within group dialects , foraging, and migratory traditions. Hal Whitehead ,

7400-402: The outermost half) can be seen in the evolution of maniraptoromorphs, and this process culminated in the appearance of the pygostyle , an ossification of fused tail vertebrae. In the late Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago, the ancestors of all modern birds evolved a more open pelvis, allowing them to lay larger eggs compared to body size. Around 95 million years ago, they evolved

7500-403: The pinecones without being "shown" by mature rats. Though this research is fairly recent, it is often used as a prime example of evidence for culture in non-primate, non-cetacean beings. Animal migration may be in part cultural; released ungulates have to learn over generations the seasonal changes in local vegetation. In the black rat ( Rattus rattus ), social transmission appears to be

7600-548: The plants to produce shimmers from the sun. Another approach is using automatic noise guns powered by propane gas . One winery in New York has even used inflatable tube men or airdancers to scare away birds. Bodach-rocais (lit. "old man of the rooks"). Scarecrow Fact and Fable , Peter Haining , 1986 [REDACTED] Media related to Scarecrows at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED] Media related to Scarecrow festivals at Wikimedia Commons Bird Birds are

7700-536: The previously clear distinction between non-birds and birds has become blurred. By the 2000s, discoveries in the Liaoning Province of northeast China, which demonstrated many small theropod feathered dinosaurs , contributed to this ambiguity. The consensus view in contemporary palaeontology is that the flying theropods, or avialans , are the closest relatives of the deinonychosaurs , which include dromaeosaurids and troodontids . Together, these form

7800-415: The prey. Because the mother killer whale is altering her behavior in order to help her offspring learn to catch prey, this is evidence of teaching and cultural learning . The intentional beaching of the killer whales, along with other cetacean behaviors such as the variations of songs among humpback whales and the sponging technique used by the bottlenose dolphin to obtain food, provide substantial support for

7900-400: The repetition of the observed action is done for no other purpose than to copy the original doer or speaker. In the scientific community, imitation is rather the process in which an organism purposefully observes and copies the methods of another in order to achieve a tangible goal. Therefore, the identification and classification of animal behavior as being imitation has been very difficult. By

8000-452: The same biological name "Aves", which is a problem. The authors proposed to reserve the term Aves only for the crown group consisting of the last common ancestor of all living birds and all of its descendants, which corresponds to meaning number 4 below. They assigned other names to the other groups.   Lizards & snakes   Turtles   Crocodiles   Birds Under the fourth definition Archaeopteryx , traditionally considered one of

8100-512: The same calls, referred to as discrete or stereotyped calls, recorded since the 1960s and passed on by the orcas from generation to generation. A Southern Resident calf only learns the discrete calls used in the pod of their mother, though exposed to other calls in the clan. Further study is being done in the matrilineal whales to uncover the cultural transmission mechanisms associated with other advanced techniques, such as migration strategies, new foraging techniques, and babysitting. By using

8200-438: The same habitat for foraging. Using mitochondrial DNA data, Krutzen et al. found a significant non-random association between the types of mitochondrial DNA pattern and sponging. Because mitochondrial DNA is inherited maternally, this result suggests sponging is passed from the mother. In a later study one more possible explanation for the transmission of sponging was ruled out in favor of cultural transmission. Scientists from

8300-510: The same lab looked at the possibility that 1.) the tendency for "sponging" was due to a genetic difference in diving ability and 2.) that these genes were under selection. From a test of 29 spongers and 54 nonspongers, the results showed that the coding mitochondrial genes were not a significant predictor of sponging behavior. Additionally, there was no evidence of selection in the investigated genes. Notable research has been done with black rats and Norwegian rats . Among studies of rat culture,

8400-419: The same method as the majority of individuals in the group. This conformity bias is prevalent in human culture as well and is commonly referred to as peer pressure . The results from the research of Victoria Horner and Andrew Whiten show that chimpanzee social structures and human social structures have more similarities than previously thought. Second only to non-human primates, culture in species within

8500-551: The second toe which may have been held clear of the ground in life, and long feathers or "hind wings" covering the hind limbs and feet, which may have been used in aerial maneuvering. Avialans diversified into a wide variety of forms during the Cretaceous period. Many groups retained primitive characteristics , such as clawed wings and teeth, though the latter were lost independently in a number of avialan groups, including modern birds (Aves). Increasingly stiff tails (especially

8600-443: The situation and say that 'monkeys have culture' and then confuse it with human culture." At this point, most of the observed behaviors in animals, like those observed by Imanishi, were related to survival in some way. The first evidence of apparently arbitrary traditions came in the late-1970s, also in the behavior of primates. At this time, researchers McGrew and Tutin found a social grooming handclasp behavior to be prevalent in

8700-609: The species. The synthesis of their studies consisted of two phases, in which they (1) created a comprehensive list of cultural variant behavior specific to certain populations of chimpanzees and (2) rated the behavior as either customary – occurring in all individuals within that population; habitual – not present in all individuals, but repeated in several individuals; present – neither customary or habitual but clearly identified; absent – instance of behavior not recorded and has no ecological explanation; ecological – absence of behavior can be attributed to ecological features or lack thereof in

8800-403: The technique. Additionally, from cross-fostering experiments where pups of naïve mothers were placed with experienced mothers and vice versa, those pups placed with experienced mothers learned the technique while those with naïve mothers did not. This result suggests that this optimal foraging technique is socially rather than genetically transmitted. Birds have been a strong study subject on

8900-428: The time, Kinji Imanishi , first introduced the idea of "kaluchua" or "pre-culture" in referring to the now famous potato-washing behavior of Japanese macaques . In 1948, Imanishi and his colleagues began studying macaques across Japan, and began to notice differences among the different groups of primates, both in social patterns and feeding behavior. In one area, paternal care was the social norm, while this behavior

9000-707: The topic of culture due to their observed vocal "dialects" similar to those studied in the cetaceans. These dialects were first discovered by zoologist Peter Marler , who noted the geographic variation in the songs of various songbirds . Many scientists have found that, in attempting to study these animals, they approach a stumbling block in that it is difficult to understand these animals' societies due to their being so different from our own. Despite this hindrance, evidence for differing dialects among songbird populations has been discovered, especially in sparrows , starlings , and cowbirds . In these birds, scientists have found strong evidence for imitation-based learning, one of

9100-496: The transmission of behaviors from one generation to the next, can be transmitted among animals through various methods. The most common of these methods include imitation, teaching, and language. Imitation has been found to be one of the most prevalent modes of cultural transmission in non-human animals, while teaching and language are much less widespread, with the possible exceptions of primates and cetaceans . Some research has suggested that teaching, as opposed to imitation, may be

9200-459: The two techniques. Although in this case, imitation is not the clear mechanism of learning given that the naïve meerkat could simply have been drawn to certain features of the apparatus from observing the "demonstrator" meerkat and from there discovered the technique on their own. Teaching is often considered one mechanism of social learning, and occurs when knowledgeable individuals of some species have been known to teach others. For this to occur,

9300-465: The use of leaves, sticks, branches, and stones for communication, play, food gathering or eating, and comfort. Each of the groups used the tools slightly differently, and this usage was passed from chimpanzee to chimpanzee within the group through a complex mix of imitation and social learning. In 1999, Whiten et al. examined data from 151 years of chimpanzee observation in an attempt to discover how much cultural variation existed between populations of

9400-423: Was absent elsewhere. One of the groups commonly dug up and ate the tubers and bulbs of several plants, while monkeys from other groups would not even put these in their mouths. Imanishi reasoned that, "if one defines culture as learned by offspring from parents, then differences in the way of life of members of the same species belonging to different social groups could be attributed to culture." Following this logic,

9500-466: Was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae . Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use. Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy . Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the clade Theropoda as an infraclass or a subclass, more recently a subclass. Aves and

9600-518: Was once thought of as a uniquely human trait, is now firmly established as a common trait among animals and is not merely a set of related behaviors passed on by genetic transmission as some have argued. Genetic transmission, like cultural transmission, is a means of passing behavioral traits from one individual to another. The main difference is that genetic transmission is the transfer of behavioral traits from one individual to another through genes which are transferred to an organism from its parents during

9700-401: Was one of the first to integrate field observations with laboratory experiments to analyze the social learning involved. From the combination of these two types of research, Terkel was able to analyze the mechanisms involved in this social learning to determine that this eating behavior resulted from a combination of ecology and cultural transmission, as the rats could not figure out how to eat

9800-428: Was the utilization of tools. Chimpanzees have been observed using tools such as rocks and sticks to obtain better access to food. There are other learned activities that have been exhibited by other animals as well. Some examples of these activities that have been shown by varied animals are opening oysters, swimming, washing of food, and unsealing tin lids. This acquisition and sharing of behaviors correlates directly to

9900-487: Was then observed in one of the monkey's playmates, then her mother and a few other playmates. The potato-washing eventually spread throughout the whole macaque colony. Imanishi introduced the Japanese term kaluchua which was later translated by Masao Kawai and others to refer to the behavior as "pre-culture" and as being acquired through "pre-cultural propagation". The researchers caution that "we must not overestimate

10000-458: Was told to "give the doggie a shot," Kanzi grabbed a toy dog and a syringe and gave it a realistic injection. This type of advanced behavior and comprehension is what scientists have used as evidence for language-based culture in animals. The beginning of the modern era of animal culture research in the middle of the 20th century came with the gradual acceptance of the term "culture" in referring to animals. In 1952, Japan's leading primatologist of

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