Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2020 Nov 25;287(1939):20201878. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1878.
Early independence from parents is a critical period where social information acquired vertically may become outdated, or conflict with new information. However, across natural populations, it is unclear if newly independent young persist in using information from parents, or if group-level effects of conformity override previous behaviours. Here, we test if wild juvenile hihi (, a New Zealand passerine) retain a foraging behaviour from parents, or if they change in response to the behaviour of peers. We provided feeding stations to parents during chick-rearing to seed alternative access routes, and then tracked their offspring's behaviour. Once independent, juveniles formed mixed-treatment social groups, where they did not retain preferences from their time with parents. Instead, juvenile groups converged over time to use one access route- per group, and juveniles that moved between groups switched to copy the locally favoured option. Juvenile hihi did not copy specific individuals, even if they were more familiar with the preceding bird. Our study shows that early social experiences with parents affect initial foraging decisions, but social environments encountered later on can update transmission of arbitrary behaviours. This suggests that conformity may be widespread in animal groups, with potential cultural, ecological and evolutionary consequences.
早期与父母的分离是一个关键时期，在此期间，垂直获得的社会信息可能会变得过时，或与新信息发生冲突。然而，在自然种群中，尚不清楚新独立的年轻人是坚持使用来自父母的信息，还是群体一致性的影响会超过以前的行为。在这里，我们测试了野生幼年几维鸟（ ，一种新西兰雀形目鸟类）是否保留了来自父母的觅食行为，或者它们是否会根据同伴的行为而改变。在育雏期间，我们为父母提供了喂养站，以提供替代的进入途径，然后跟踪它们的后代的行为。一旦独立，幼鸟形成了混合处理的社会群体，它们不再保留与父母相处时的偏好。相反，随着时间的推移，幼鸟群体逐渐统一到使用一种进入途径——每个群体一个，而在群体之间移动的幼鸟则会转而模仿当地受欢迎的选择。幼鸟不会模仿特定的个体，即使它们对前面的鸟更熟悉。我们的研究表明，与父母的早期社会经历会影响最初的觅食决策，但后来遇到的社会环境可以更新任意行为的传播。这表明一致性可能在动物群体中很普遍，具有潜在的文化、生态和进化意义。
