Indirect social influence in the maintenance of the stone-handling tradition in Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.09.035

Animal Behaviour

Volume 79, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 117-126

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.09.035 Get rights and content

Comparative and longitudinal studies have shown that stone-handling (SH) behaviour, defined as the noninstrumental manipulation of stones by performing various behavioural patterns, is socially transmitted across generations as a cultural behaviour in Japanese macaques. We investigated experimentally how stimulus/local enhancement, a form of indirect social influence through the physical traces typically left in the environment by previous stone handlers, might trigger SH behaviour at the individual level, and thus could contribute to the maintenance of the SH tradition at the group level. Through the semicontrolled conditions of field experiments, conducted in the free-ranging provisioned Arashiyama E troop, in which the SH tradition has been well established for nearly three decades, our results supported the stimulus/local enhancement hypothesis. Most group members preferentially directed their SH behaviour towards typical physical traces of SH activity (piles of stones) over randomly scattered stones. Encountering SH artefacts enhanced the use of these particular stones for performing SH in that particular part of the environment. The common occurrence of such ‘play stations’ may favour the frequent reuse of the same stones over time and explain the transport of stones between and around SH artefacts. We provided evidence for the role of indirect social inputs on the long-term persistence of the SH tradition in Japanese macaques, through SH by-products, the stimulating effect of which can be delayed in time and separate in space from others. We discuss our findings from the perspective of socially mediated behaviours, conformity-enforcing responses and niche construction.

Section snippets

Study Group

The following observations were made on the free-ranging Arashiyama E troop of Japanese macaques at the Iwatayama Monkey Park, Arashiyama, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Japanese macaques have been provisioned and studied at Arashiyama since 1954 (Huffman 1991). At the time of our observations, the study group was provisioned with wheat grains four times a day by the park staff. This type of food was eaten by the monkeys without any processing whatsoever other than chewing. Visitors were also allowed

Number and Activity of Group Members Involved in Sessions

The number of identified group members entering the areas at least once during the experimental sessions was 116 (i.e. 80.0% of group members), among which 82 were engaged in SH activity (i.e. 56.6% of group members). Of 48 sessions, we recorded a total of 448 entrances, among which 247 (55.1%) were followed by SH activity, whereas 201 (44.9%) were not. The average number of entrances per session was 9.3, among which 5.1 ± 3.9 were followed by SH activity. The average duration of presence of an

Discussion

Through the semicontrolled conditions of field experiments, we aimed to simulate the context under which SH might be socially maintained in the wild, and infer which form(s) of social influence might support the persistence of the SH culture in Japanese macaques. Our results supported the ‘stimulus/local enhancement hypothesis’ that individuals preferentially direct their SH behaviour towards typical physical traces of SH activity (piles of stones) over randomly scattered stones. In other

Acknowledgments

Our work was funded by a Grant-In-Aid for scientific research (No. 1907421 to M.A.H.) sponsored by Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan, by a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) postdoctoral fellowship to J.-B.L. (No. 07421), and by travel funds from the HOPE Project, a core-to-core programme sponsored by JSPS. We are grateful to S. Asaba, J. Hashiguchi, S. Kobatake and S. Tamada from Iwatayama Monkey Park for helping us during the course of the study. For

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Stone handling (SH) is a form of solitary object play that is acquired via social means and culturally maintained in its daily performance (Huffman, 1984; Leca et al., 2010a; Nahallage and Huffman, 2007a).
Stone handling (SH) is a form of solitary object play that is socially learned and culturally maintained. We studied two captive groups (Modena, N = 20; Padova, N = 20) of common long-tailed macaques housed in a sanctuary in Italy. Our research goal was two-fold: (1) establish the first SH repertoire in captive-raised long-tailed macaques, and (2) explain major differences in the expression of SH between the two study groups. Despite being of identical size and sharing similar environmental conditions, we found that SH was performed by most group members in Modena, whereas SH was absent in Padova. We aimed to explain this inter-group variation by exploring the role of proximate factors that are known to affect the occurrence of SH: demography, dominance, stone availability, activity budget, and food provisioning. The atypical age structure of Padova (i.e., no immature individuals) may have impaired the emergence of SH in this group. In Modena, we found no significant effect of hierarchical rank on SH frequency and duration and no temporal relationship between SH and feeding. Regarding the activity budget, SH filled in for a portion of affiliative and resting behaviours in Modena. Our findings lend support to the cultural nature of SH.
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Moreover, an inter-group comparative study revealed similarities in SH profiles among neighboring groups, referred to as cultural zones, possibly resulting from cross-group observational learning, or males transferring SH patterns when migrating from one group to another (Leca et al., 2007c). Finally, in addition to these processes of direct social learning, a field experiment demonstrated that indirect social inputs, including stimulus or local enhancement brought about by SH artefacts (e.g., piles of stones left on the ground by previous stone handlers) contribute to the long-term maintenance of SH traditions in Japanese macaques (Leca et al., 2010). By demonstrating that the expression of SH was socially mediated, via response facilitation (at least at the dyadic level) in Balinese long-tailed macaques, we provided further support for the cultural nature of this object-directed and seemingly playful behavioral practice in this primate species.
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¹: N. Gunst is now at Kyodai Syokuin Syukusha 142, Tonoji Ooguro 178-44, Inuyama, Aichi 484-0094, Japan.

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Indirect social influence in the maintenance of the stone-handling tradition in Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata

Section snippets

Study Group

Number and Activity of Group Members Involved in Sessions

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Journal of Human Evolution

Animal Behaviour

Journal of Human Evolution

Journal of Human Evolution

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Cognitive Science

Observational study of behavior: sampling methods

Behaviour

Learning by imitation: a hierarchical approach

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Social learning in monkeys and apes: cultural animals?

Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences

Learning in the rat of a choice response by observation of S–S contingencies

The opening of milk bottles by birds

British Birds

Contexts for Learning: Sociocultural Dynamics in Childrens' Development

The Biology of Traditions: Models and Evidence

Towards a biology of traditions

Recognizing a swan: socially-biased learning

Psychologia

Socially biased learning in monkeys

Learning and Behavior

The Complete Capuchin: the Biology of the Genus Cebus

Raking it in: the impact of enculturation on chimpanzee tool use

Animal Cognition

Imitation in animals: history, definitions and interpretation of the data from the psychological laboratory

Approaches to the study of traditional behaviors of free-living animals

Learning and Behavior

Use of foraging trails by Norway rats

Animal Behaviour

Social learning in animals: empirical studies and theoretical models

BioScience

Studying how social context aids acquisition of foraging skills in wild brown capuchins (Cebus apella) in Suriname

American Journal of Primatology

Acquisition of foraging competence in wild brown capuchins (Cebus apella), with special reference to conspecifics' foraging artefacts as an indirect social influence

Behaviour

The Ants

History of Arashiyama Japanese macaques in Kyoto, Japan

Biological and ecological foundations of primate behavioral tradition