Abstract
Tool use can be inherited, or acquired as an individual innovation or by social transmission. Having previously reported individual innovative tool use and manufacture by a Goffin cockatoo, we used the innovator (Figaro, a male) as a demonstrator to investigate social transmission. Twelve Goffins saw either demonstrations by Figaro, or ‘ghost’ controls where tools and/or food were manipulated using magnets. Subjects observing demonstrations showed greater tool-related performance than ghost controls, with all three males in this group (but not the three females) acquiring tool-using competence. Two of these three males further acquired tool-manufacturing competence. As the actions of successful observers differed from those of the demonstrator, result emulation rather than high-fidelity imitation is the most plausible transmission mechanism.
Highlights
Tool-related behaviour is phylogenetically widespread and rare and hard to implement in artificial systems
A further important distinction is between-individual innovations, when subjects use objects in a novel way to overcome unusual problems, and socially acquired tool use, where tool-related skills are acquired through observation of and/or interactions with others
We explore the generalization of a socially acquired tool-use skill to the problem of tool manufacture
Summary
Tool-related behaviour is phylogenetically widespread and rare and hard to implement in artificial systems. During MFEs, no tools were present, instead subjects observed how the food reward (placed on a small metal dish) moved, driven by a magnet under the table, into Figaro’s reach, and thereafter Figaro eating it. 1/8) of a cashew nut each time Figaro started to eat in full demonstrations or in MFEs, or after the food had exited the grid in MTEs. Two subjects that had succeeded in retrieving food with the provided tools were tested on a manufacture task. For each social transmission of tool-use session, we recorded the number of times the potential tools were picked up, the durations of contact between tool and the front wire grid, and whether the subject was successful in raking in the nut using the tool. We used non-parametric, two-tailed statistics and the Bonferroni–Holm method to correct for multiple comparisons
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