Social Learning Opportunities in Captive Orangutans (Pongo abelii) and Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx)

Abstract

Social learning is important in the acquisition of many primate behaviors, including food acquisition, object use, and sociality. Social learning opportunities are social situations in which social learning could occur and provide a means of studying influences on social learning in observational research. Species-specific characteristics and individual relationships may influence the importance of social learning opportunities for some behaviors over others. We observed eight captive orangutans (Pongo abelii) and five mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) for >60 h each at the Toronto Zoo to assess intra- and interspecies differences in social learning opportunities. We measured social learning opportunity quality using spatial proximity because this has been associated with high-quality social learning. Both species had similar captive diets and group structure; therefore observed differences were likely due to species and individual differences, rather than captive environment. We found species differences in the frequency of social learning opportunities, their quality, and the associated type of behavior (food vs. social behavior). Orangutans had more high-quality social learning opportunities relating to food behavior than mandrills, and mandrills had more high-quality social learning opportunities relating to social behavior than orangutans. Both species had more high-quality social learning opportunities in mother–infant vs. other dyads. Our results suggest that learning about food behavior may be more important for orangutans and learning about social behavior may be more important for mandrills. Overall, our results suggest that social learning may be constrained/fostered by differences in frequency and quality of social learning opportunities between species and individuals.