Learning how to forage: Socially biased individual learning and “niche construction” in capuchin monkeys
Elisabetta Visalberghi
Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, CNR, Roma Italia
As Gunst et al. (2008) write, capuchin monkeys afford an interesting view of how physical, social, and experiential factors contribute to the development of foraging competence in a long-lived primate. The social context affects the location where naïve individuals are, the objects they are interested in and interact with, and the actions they performed. Therefore, when learning a new foraging technique naïve individuals are likely to be socially biased. The bias can be induced by the presence and the actions of group members as well as by the leftovers of their activities. Here, I will discuss the results of field observations on how young capuchins develop the foraging competence of extracting larvae from bamboo shoots reported by Gunst et al. (2008) and on how young capuchins learn to use hammers and anvils to crack open very resistant (Ramos da Silva, 2008 and EthoCebus project). In particular, I will highlight how “niche construction” guides the behaviour of naïve individuals and promote the acquisition of foraging skills.