Role of immigrant males and muzzle contacts in the uptake of a novel food by wild vervet monkeys.

ABSTRACT: The entry into and uptake of information in social groups is critical for behavioral adaptation by long-lived species in rapidly changing environments. We exposed five groups of wild vervet monkeys to a novel food to investigate the innovation of processing and consuming it. We report that immigrant males innovated in two groups, and an infant innovated in one group. In two other groups, immigrant males imported the innovation from their previous groups. We compared uptake between groups with respect to the initial innovator to examine the extent to which dispersing males could introduce an innovation into groups. Uptake of the novel food was faster in groups where immigrant males ate first rather than the infants. Younger individuals were more likely overall, and faster, to subsequently a

SUBMITTER: Dongre P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10776085 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature