Sinha Anindya
National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore 560 012, India.
J Biosci. 2005 Feb;30(1):51-64. doi: 10.1007/BF02705150.
Phenotypic flexibility, or the within-genotype, context-dependent, variation in behaviour expressed by single reproductively mature individuals during their lifetimes, often impart a selective advantage to organisms and profoundly influence their survival and reproduction. Another phenomenon apparently not under direct genetic control is behavioural inheritance whereby higher animals are able to acquire information from the behaviour of others by social learning, and, through their own modified behaviour, transmit such information between individuals and across generations. Behavioural information transfer of this nature thus represents another form of inheritance that operates in many animals in tandem with the more basic genetic system. This paper examines the impact that phenotypic flexibility, behavioural inheritance and socially transmitted cultural traditions may have in shaping the structure and dynamics of a primate society--that of the bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata), a primate species endemic to peninsular India. Three principal issues are considered: the role of phenotypic flexibility in shaping social behaviour, the occurrence of individual behavioural traits leading to the establishment of social traditions, and the appearance of cultural evolution amidst such social traditions. Although more prolonged observations are required, these initial findings suggest that phenotypic plasticity, behavioural inheritance and cultural traditions may be much more widespread among primates than have previously been assumed but may have escaped attention due to a preoccupation with genetic inheritance in zoological thinking.
表型灵活性，即单个生殖成熟个体在其一生中所表现出的基因型内、依赖环境的行为变化，通常会赋予生物体一种选择优势，并深刻影响其生存和繁殖。另一种显然不受直接基因控制的现象是行为遗传，即高等动物能够通过社会学习从其他个体的行为中获取信息，并通过自身改变后的行为在个体之间以及代际之间传递此类信息。这种性质的行为信息传递因此代表了另一种遗传形式，它在许多动物中与更基本的遗传系统协同运作。本文探讨了表型灵活性、行为遗传和社会传播的文化传统可能对灵长类动物社会结构和动态产生的影响——印度半岛特有的一种灵长类动物帽猴（Macaca radiata）的社会结构和动态。文中考虑了三个主要问题：表型灵活性在塑造社会行为中的作用、导致社会传统建立的个体行为特征的出现，以及在这种社会传统中文化进化的表现。尽管需要进行更长时间的观察，但这些初步发现表明，表型可塑性、行为遗传和文化传统在灵长类动物中的分布可能比以前所认为的要广泛得多，但可能由于动物学思维中对基因遗传的过度关注而未被注意到。
