Neophilia, innovation and social learning: a study of intergeneric differences in callitrichid monkeys

doi:10.1006/anbe.2003.2074

Animal Behaviour

Volume 65, Issue 3, March 2003, Pages 559-571

https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2003.2074 Get rights and content

Abstract

In a comparative study of neophilia, innovation and social attentiveness we exposed individuals in seven callitrichid species, from three genera, to novel extractive foraging tasks. The results revealed consistently shorter response latencies, higher levels of successful and unsuccessful manipulation, and greater attentiveness to the task and to conspecifics inLeontopithecus (lion tamarins) than in both Saguinus (tamarins) and Callithrix (marmosets). This is consistent with the hypothesis that species dependent upon manipulative and explorative foraging tend to be less neophobic and more innovative than other species. Furthermore, Callithrix appeared to be less neophobic than Saguinus; ifCallithrix is regarded as the greater specialist, this result is inconsistent with the hypothesis that neophobia is associated with foraging specialization. We consider the relevance of our findings to taxonomic relationships, and to technical and Machiavellian intelligence hypotheses and discuss the implications for captive breeding and reintroduction strategies.Copyright 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

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^f1: Correspondence: R. L. Day, Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Madingley CB3 8AA, U.K. (email: [email protected]).

^f2: R. L. Coe is at the Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, U.K.

^f3: K. N. Laland is now at the School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, U.K.

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Regular ArticlesNeophilia, innovation and social learning: a study of intergeneric differences in callitrichid monkeys

Abstract

Journal of Human Evolution

Animal Behaviour

Journal of Human Evolution

Journal of Human Evolution

Animal Behaviour

Advances in the Study of Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Journal of Human Evolution

Journal of Human Evolution

Social Learning Theory

Behavioural responses to environmental change. Observations on captive marmosets and tamarins (Callitrichidae)

Animal Technology

Training for life after release: simian primates as examples

Symposia of the Zoological Society of London

Foraging strategies among male and female marmosets and tamarins (Callitrichidae): new perspectives in an underexplored area

Folia Primatologica

Culture and the Evolutionary Process

Polyspecific associations of two tamarin species, Saguinus labiatus and Saguinus fuscicollis, in Bolivia

American Journal of Primatology

Primate cognition: comparing problems and skills

American Journal of Primatology

Comparative study of culturally transmitted patterns of feeding habits in the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) and the vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops)

Folia Primatologica

Individual variation in responsiveness to environmental change

Temperament in nonhuman primates

American Journal of Primatology

Behavioural contrasts between male cynomolgus and lion-tailed macaques

American Journal of Primatology

Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences

Animais predados ou rejeitados pelo saui-piranga, Leontopithecus r. rosalia (L. 1766) na sau area de occorencia primitiva (Callitrichidae, Primates)

Revista Brasileira de Biologia

Tree-gouging, exudate-eating and the ‘short-tusked’ condition in Callithrix andCebuella

Neophobia and neophilia: new-object and new-place reactions in three Rattus species

Journal of Comparative Physiology and Psychology

Social learning and primate reintroduction

International Journal of Primatology

Comparative tests of primate cognition: different scaling methods produce different results

Brain Behavior and Evolution

A re-evaluation of the social organisation of the Callitrichidae, with reference to ecological differences between genera

Folia Primatologica

Systematics of New World monkeys

Responses to novelty in Saimiri and Callicebus: influence of social context

Primates

Proximate regulation of singular breeding in callitrichid primates

Role of spatial memory in primate foraging patterns: Saguinus mystax and Saguinus fuscicollis

American Journal of Primatology

Feeding ecology and behaviour of the genus Saguinus

Cognition, brain size and the extraction of embedded food resources

Social foraging: individual learning and cultural transmission

Behavioral Ecology

Curiosity in zoo animals

Behaviour

From mice to men: what can we learn about personality from animal research?

Psychological Bulletin

Personality dimensions in non-human animals: a cross-species review

Current Directions in Psychological Science

The role of neophobia in determining the degree of foraging specialisation in some migrant warblers

American Naturalist

Differences in feeding neophobia in the tropical migrant wood warblers Dendroica castanea and D. pensylvanica

Journal of Comparative Psychology

Responses of captive single- and mixed-species groups of Saguinus to novel nonthreatening objects

International Journal of Primatology

Regular Articles
Neophilia, innovation and social learning: a study of intergeneric differences in callitrichid monkeys