For the first time, scientists have experimentally demonstrated social learning in non-human animals resulting from environmental change. The latest research by experts from the Max Planck Institute showed that great tits, after migration, quickly learned new behaviors from the local community they had just met.
The first signs that great tits can learn behavior from each other were noticed already in the 1920s. These little birds became famous after opening the foil lids of milk bottles left outside the house to drink the cream in a small town in England. Within a short period of time, similar cases were reported in many European countries.
The unusual behavior of tits spread so quickly that scientists became interested in it. In 2015, research led by Lucy Aplin and conducted at the University of Oxford confirmed that great tits can copy behavior.
– Social learning is a shortcut when we have to face the unknown […]. Paying attention to what others are doing gives you a chance to see whether new behavior is beneficial or potentially dangerous, says Dr. Michael Chimento, who was a member of the Aplin team.
However, the 2015 experiment did not answer the question of whether there is a factor causing such a change in behavior. Previously, it was assumed that animals should change their behavior under the influence of a new environment. Aplin and Chimento were the first to test this theory under experimental conditions. The results were presented a few days ago in the journal “PLOS Biology”.
Puzzle boxes
For the experiment, researchers designed special, automated puzzle boxes in which wild great tits were placed. After dividing the animals into groups, each of them was assigned a previously trained teacher who knew the solution to the puzzle. It involved moving the door to the right or left, behind which there was a reward in the form of food. In this way, several distinct communities were created. Some rooms also contained various plants, simulating a change in the environment.
Later there was the so-called migration event. Birds trained to push doors to the right were moved to rooms containing those behaving in the opposite direction.
– “Migrants” could only learn that something had changed by observing residents using the puzzle or by solving it themselves in the opposite way – emphasizes Chimento.
Great tits Shutterstock
Instant behavior change
The research result was surprising. As many as 80 percent of the birds imitated the behavior of others when they first tried to solve the puzzle, abandoning their learned habits in the blink of an eye.
“These behavioral patterns are striking enough to suggest that the birds were closely observing the residents from the moment they entered their new social group,” Chimento adds.
Scientists also noticed another, very interesting relationship related to the appearance of individual boxes. During the experiment, it turned out that in those rooms where the vegetation was the same, only 25 percent of the great tits changed their behavior among the new community.
“They didn't necessarily ignore the residents, but it took them a lot longer to get everyone to a more satisfactory solution,” explains Dr. Michael Chimento.
According to the study's authors, their work shows the powerful impact of migration on changing behavior among animals.
'In the wild, animals often move from one environment to another, so it's useful to have a strategy that allows them to weed out good and bad behaviors that can be used in a new place,' concludes Lucy Aplin.
Main photo source: Shutterstock