Leca Jean-Baptiste, Gunst Noëlle, Huffman Michael A
Section of Social Systems Evolution, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan.
Primates. 2010 Jan;51(1):13-22. doi: 10.1007/s10329-009-0159-9.
We report the first case of dental flossing behavior by a Japanese macaque. We used cross-sectional data to assess the presence of this novel tool-use behavior at the group-level. Although this behavior was performed frequently by a central middle-ranking middle-aged female during her grooming interactions, and appeared at least four years ago, it remained idiosyncratic to its innovator, and until now has not spread to other group members. We examined the factors that may have favored this innovation, including the environmental context, the individual characteristics of the innovator, and the structural and functional aspects of the behavior. Group size, kinship, and dominance are socio-demographic factors that are likely to limit the opportunities for any group member to observe the innovator, and thus constrain the diffusion of this potential candidate as a new behavioral tradition. This is one of the rare studies to document the spontaneous appearance of tool-use behavior in primates under natural conditions. Identifying the determinants of innovations and the constraints on their diffusion within social groups of non-human primates is of special interest to understanding cultural evolution.
我们报告了首例日本猕猴使用牙线清洁牙齿的行为。我们利用横断面数据评估了这种新的工具使用行为在群体层面的存在情况。尽管这一行为在一只处于中心地位、排名中等的中年雌性猕猴进行梳理互动时频繁出现，且至少在四年前就已出现，但它仍然是其创新者特有的行为，直到现在都没有传播到其他群体成员身上。我们研究了可能有利于这种创新的因素，包括环境背景、创新者的个体特征以及行为的结构和功能方面。群体规模、亲属关系和支配地位是社会人口统计学因素，可能会限制任何群体成员观察创新者的机会，从而限制这种潜在新行为传统的传播。这是少数记录在自然条件下灵长类动物自发出现工具使用行为的研究之一。确定创新的决定因素以及它们在非人类灵长类动物社会群体中传播的限制因素，对于理解文化进化具有特殊意义。
