Publication
Title
Foraging zebra finches (**Taeniopygia guttata**) are public information users rather than conformists
Author
Abstract
Social learning enables adaptive information acquisition provided that it is not random but selective. To understand species typical decision-making and to trace the evolutionary origins of social learning, the heuristics social learners use need to be identified. Here, we experimentally tested the nature of majority influence in the zebra finch. Subjects simultaneously observed two demonstrator groups differing in relative and absolute numbers (ratios 1 : 2/2 : 4/3 : 3/1 : 5) foraging from two novel food sources (black and white feeders). We find that demonstrator groups influenced observers' feeder choices (social learning), but that zebra finches did not copy the majority of individuals. Instead, observers were influenced by the foraging activity (pecks) of the demonstrators and in an anti-conformist fashion. These results indicate that zebra finches are not conformist, but are public information users.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Biology letters / Royal Society [Londen] - London
Related dataset(s)
Publication
London : 2021
ISSN
1744-9561 [print]
1744-957X [online]
DOI
10.1098/RSBL.2020.0767
Volume/pages
17 :6 (2021) , 6 p.
Article Reference
20200767
ISI
000664794600001
Pubmed ID
34157236
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Social climate and its impact on cooperation in bonobos and chimpanzees
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 30.07.2021
Last edited 02.10.2024
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