| Literature DB >> 21949715 |
Claire J Santorelli1, Colleen M Schaffner, Filippo Aureli.
Abstract
Candidate traditions were documented across three communities of wild spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) using an a priori approach to identify behavioral variants and a statistical approach to examine differences in their proportional use. This methodology differs from previous studies of animal traditions, which used retrospective data and relied on the 'exclusion method' to identify candidate traditions. Our a priori approach increased the likelihood that behavior variants with equivalent functions were considered and our statistical approach enabled the proportional use of 'universal' behaviors, i.e., used across all communities, to be examined for the first time in any animal species as candidate traditions. Among universal behaviors we found 14 'community preferred' variants. After considering the extent to which community preferred variants were due to ecological and, to a lesser degree, genetic differences, we concluded that at least six were likely maintained through social learning. Our findings have two main implications: (i) tradition repertoires could be larger than assumed from previous studies using the exclusion method; (ii) the relative use of universal behavior variants can reinforce community membership.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2011 PMID: 21949715 PMCID: PMC3176216 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024400
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Composition of the three study groups.
| 2006 | 2007 | |||||
| Male | Female | Total | Male | Female | Total | |
|
| ||||||
| Adult | 6 | 9 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 14 |
| Sub-adult | 2 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| Juvenile | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Infant | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Total | 12 | 18 | 30 | 11 | 16 | 27 |
|
| ||||||
| Adult | 2 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Sub-adult | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Juvenile | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Infant | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 10 | 12 | 22 | 10 | 13 | 23 |
|
| ||||||
| Adult | 5 | 9 | 14 | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| Sub-adult | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Juvenile | 3 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Infant | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Total | 11 | 16 | 27 | 11 | 16 | 29 |
Adult = older than 8 years; sub-adult = 5–8 years; juveniles = 3–5 years; infants 0–3 years; an individual younger than 3 years but whose mother had already another offspring were considered juveniles [54].
*Demographic data for age class classification were not available for older individuals and so individuals were classified based on size. Sub-adults were individuals that moved independently from their mother (i.e. could be found in subgroups where the mother was not present) and were sexually mature, but were not fully adult size.
Includes two individuals of unknown gender.
ANOVA results for behaviors that varied significantly across communities.
| Domain | Sub-domain | Behavioral variant |
| df |
| Mean proportion ± SE | ||
| Santa Rosa | PL-East | PL-West | ||||||
| Fruit extraction method | Tail-assisted suspension | hand instead of mouth | 6.058 | 2,41 | 0.005 | 0.422±0.054 | 0.145±0.059 | 0.237±0.069 |
| Tail-assisted standing | hand instead of mouth | 5.753 | 2,31 | 0.008 | 0.260±0.054 | 0.057±0.054 | 0.375±0.105 | |
| Drinking | Drink style | lick instead of dribble | 5.583 | 2,28 | <0.001 | 1.000±0.063 | 0.741±0.59 | 0.970±0.071 |
| Hand use | left hand instead of right hand | 3.133 | 2,44 | 0.053 | 0.625±0.095 | 0.485±0.087 | 0.848±0.110 | |
| Ground use | Ground use | foraging | 4.190 | 2,23 | 0.028 | 0.111±0.107 | 0.506±0.076 | 0.833±0.132 |
| Marking | Substrate marking | chest rub | 44.468 | 2,58 | <0.001 | 0.558±0.038 | 0.019±0.065 | 0.000±0.000 |
| genital rub | 38.650 | 2,58 | <0.001 | 0.134±0.047 | 0.865±0.080 | 0.773±0.087 | ||
| Greetings | Approach type | approach with a greeting instead of without a greeting | 6.205 | 2,90 | 0.003 | 0.091±0.016 | 0.050±0.021 | 0.047±0.019 |
| Greeting type | contact greeting instead of non-contact greeting | 13.443 | 2,51 | <0.001 | 0.671±0.047 | 0.598±0.091 | 0.071±0.109 | |
| Pectoral sniff use | pectoral sniff with embrace instead of without embrace | 0.017 | 0.798±0.047 | 0.573±0.073 | n/a | |||
| Resting | Association when close | resting in proximity | 5.803 | 2,25 | 0.009 | 0.461±0.039 | 0.394±0.046 | 0.205±0.073 |
| Substrate size | medium size | 7.523 | 2,40 | 0.002 | 0.406±0.036 | 0.270±0.040 | 0.197±0.049 | |
| Resting posture | sitting upright | 14.402 | 2,40 | <0.001 | 0.373±0.039 | 0.657±0.042 | 0.642±0.052 | |
| leaning lateral | 11.872 | 2,40 | <0.001 | 0.479±0.037 | 0.232±0.04 | 0.246±0.049 | ||
PL-East = Punta Laguna - East community; PL-West = Punta Laguna - West community;
*As the Punta Laguna - West community could not be included in the analysis an independent t-test was performed (see text);
Significant after applying Bonferroni's correction (see Methods);
identified as a community preferred behavior likely maintained by social learning;
ф functionally equivalent variant.