The evolution of animal 'cultures' and social intelligence.

ABSTRACT: Decades-long field research has flowered into integrative studies that, together with experimental evidence for the requisite social learning capacities, have indicated a reliance on multiple traditions ('cultures') in a small number of species. It is increasingly evident that there is great variation in manifestations of social learning, tradition and culture among species, offering much scope for evolutionary analysis. Social learning has been identified in a range of vertebrate and invertebrate species, yet sustained traditions appear rarer, and the multiple traditions we call cultures are rarer still. Here, we examine relationships between this variation and both social intelligence--sophisticated information processing adapted to the social domain--and encephalization. First, we consi

SUBMITTER: Whiten A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2346520 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature