Summary Oxford University Biology revision notes: Animal Culture
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Course
Animal Behaviour
Institution
Oxford University (OX)
My Oxford University notes for the Biology FHS exam in Animal Behaviour. Useful for Biology and Human Sciences. I achieved a first and multiple academic prizes. Includes descriptions of concepts and key examples/references.
Why is language so rare in the animal kingdom and yet why are there so many human languages? // OR:
Compare and contrast cultural innovation in birds and primates. // Compare and contrast culture in
humans and non-human animals. // Is culture uniquely human? // To what extent do animals show
culture? // What is the evidence that termite fishing among chimpanzees is a culturally transmitted
behaviour? // EITHER: How have human cultural processes influenced human evolution?
Defining
Most definitions emphasise:
1) Behaviours are transmitted through some form of social learning (not genetically)
2) Traits are shared by members of a group
3) Behaviours show some degree of permanence over time
LALAND AND HOPPITT (2003): group-typical behaviour patterns shared by members of a community that
rely on socially learned and transmitted information
This definition, variations upon which are now widely used in studies on the subject, comes out of a
lengthy discussion of other definitions and their limitations – particularly of those that imply a
degree of “human exceptionalism”, which ‘encourage the misguided view that humans are
(uniquely) unique, which is only trivially true since all species are unique’
A definition of culture for behavioural ecology, perhaps unlike those in social sciences, should provide
scientists with a discrete and measurable “thing” that can be used to construct hypotheses. Too flexible a
definition creates methodological problems in its study (particularly in the cross-comparison of cases),
whereas too narrow a definition does not precipitate a full understanding of culture.
What is the point of studying culture in animals?
Evolutionary mechanism
Modes of cultural transmission
CAVALLI-SFORZA & FELDMAN (1981): population geneticists. Base these three modes of transmission on
quantifiable mathematical models:
1) Vertical transmission: from parent to offspring, much like with gene transmission in biological
evolution. Contributes to more inter-group cultural variation
2) Horizontal transmission: among peers in a given population/generation. Expected to result in fast
rates of transmission and to result in less inter-group cultural variation
3) Oblique transmission: from one generation to a younger generation, like with teaching. This is
characterised by a sharp decline in behavioural variation in the given population. Can occur
between grandparent and grandchild as well as parent to child, or between unrelated individuals,
etc.
Identifying
Examples of how to detect culture should be learnt in the following format: details of the technique,
pros/cons, examples of the technique being used.
1) The “ethnographic” method
Details:
, Document regional variation in behaviour(s) across different groups of the same species
Discount genetic and ecological explanations for observed differences
o Genetic: look at relatedness between populations broadly and see if cultural patterns
correlate (not looking at specific genetic explanations for particular traits). If they do, it
might be suggested that genetics explain away “cultural” differences
Pros:
Cons:
Infers social learning without observing
Neglects the interplay between genetics, ecology and culture (LALAND AND JANIK 2006)
o Correlations between behavioural and ecological variables are to be expected because
culture is a source of adaptive behaviour, and one should also anticipate cultural and
genetic covariance, because animal learning is influenced by genetic predispositions/abilities
o Genes, ecology and learning all influence vertebrate behaviour and, as a result, the
ethnographic method would reject most genuine cases of culture if rigorously applied
Example: WHITEN et al. (1999) – chimpanzee cultures
2) Experimental approaches
Translocation experiments (what happens when individuals/groups are exchanged between locations)
Determine whether behavioural changes are explained by ecology or culture e.g. if newly
introduced animals adopt the behaviour of established residents, one can reject explanations in
terms of genetic differences between populations (LALAND AND JANIK 2006)
Pros:
Cons: this approach is not feasible/ethical with many species (e.g. primates)
Example: coral reef fish (WARNER 1988)
o Mating sites of the bluehead wrasse have remained in daily use over 12 years (four
generations) without changing locations. Here, I show that experimental replacement of
entire local populations led to the use of new sites, which continued to be used after the
manipulations
o -> mating site locations may not be the result of individual assessment of current resource
quality, but instead represent culturally transmitted traditions
Cultural diffusion experiments (can novel behavioural variants spread through group via social learning)
Involve the introduction of new behaviours into a group, after which point the spread and
persistence of the given behaviour is tracked
Pros:
Cons:
Example: APLIN et al. (2014) – conformity in great tits
3) Social network-based diffusion analyses
Details: mapping of information transmission through social connections
Popular method: network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA)
Uses an association matrix to estimate the proportion of time that individuals are associated to
quantify the extent to which social network structure explains the spread of a behaviour (ALLEN et
al. 2013)
H0: the “spread” of a trait is explained by separate invention events
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