Multi-network-based diffusion analysis reveals vertical cultural transmission of sponge tool use within dolphin matrilines.

ABSTRACT: Behavioural differences among social groups can arise from differing ecological conditions, genetic predispositions and/or social learning. In the past, social learning has typically been inferred as responsible for the spread of behaviour by the exclusion of ecological and genetic factors. This 'method of exclusion' was used to infer that 'sponging', a foraging behaviour involving tool use in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) population in Shark Bay, Western Australia, was socially transmitted. However, previous studies were limited in that they never fully accounted for alternative factors, and that social learning, ecology and genetics are not mutually exclusive in causing behavioural variation. Here, we quantified the importance of social learning on the diffusion of sponging,

SUBMITTER: Wild S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6685002 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature