The development of social attention in orangutans: Comparing peering behavior in wild and zoo-housed individuals
Paulina Kukofka,
Richard Young,
Julia A. Kunz,
Lara Nellissen,
Shauhin E. Alavi,
Tri Rahmaeti,
Fitriah Basalamah,
Daniel B.M. Haun,
Caroline Schuppli
Affiliations
Paulina Kukofka
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10 78464 Konstanz, Germany; Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestraße 5 78467 Konstanz, Germany; Corresponding author
Richard Young
Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestraße 5 78467 Konstanz, Germany
Julia A. Kunz
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstraße 190 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute of Evolutionary Biology of Montpellier (ISEM), University of Montpellier, Campus Triolet 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
Lara Nellissen
Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstraße 190 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Éco-Anthropologie et Ethnobiologie, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France; Institute of Biology, Department of Comparative Cognition, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
Shauhin E. Alavi
Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10 78464 Konstanz, Germany; Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestraße 5 78467 Konstanz, Germany
Tri Rahmaeti
Fakultas Biologi, Universitas Nasional, Jalan Sawo Manila, RT.14/RW.3, Jakarta 12550, Indonesia
Fitriah Basalamah
Fakultas Biologi, Universitas Nasional, Jalan Sawo Manila, RT.14/RW.3, Jakarta 12550, Indonesia
Daniel B.M. Haun
Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Caroline Schuppli
Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Bücklestraße 5 78467 Konstanz, Germany; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstraße 190 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Summary: Social learning plays an essential role in all cultural processes, but the factors underlying its evolution remain poorly understood. To understand how socio-ecological conditions affect social learning, we compared peering behavior (i.e., close-range observation of conspecifics’ activities) in wild and zoo-housed Sumatran orangutans. Using long-term data describing over 3,000 peering events (performed by 65 individuals across settings), we found similar age trajectories of peering in both settings. Moreover, immatures universally preferred to peer at older individuals and in learning-intense contexts. However, zoo-housed immatures peered more frequently, and more at non-mother individuals than their wild conspecifics, even when social opportunities were controlled for. Therefore, although similarities across settings suggest that the tendency to attend to social information has hard-wired components, the differences indicate that it is also influenced by social opportunities and the necessity to learn. Our comparative approach thus provides evidence that socio-ecological factors and genetic predispositions underlie the dynamics and evolution of culture.
